A BUSINESSMAN has issued a “cry for help” to Nicola Sturgeon urging her to sanction spending on the infrastructure of south-west Scotland which, he said, had been “forgotten and left to rot”.

Romano Petrucci has written to the First Minister after The National revealed how campaigners from Ayrshire and Dumfries and Galloway had joined forces to push for improvements on the A77 and A75, which they say have been neglected for years.

READ MORE: Highway to hell: calls for action on Scotland's forgotten route 

Romano Petrucci, chair of Stranraer Development Trust, was born and brought up in Stranraer and his family has run a fish and chip shop there for almost 60 years, as well as other business interests.

In his letter, Petrucci wrote: “Stranraer and the surrounding towns and villages are in an area of incredible and diverse beauty, and in the modern Scotland that you and I both love, it has been forgotten and left to rot.

READ MORE: Transport campaigners warn Stranraer is ‘a town living in fear’

“I write today to ask you to hear our cry for help and take steps to change the approach to our area of Scotland once and for all, so that it will never again be the forgotten part of our amazing country. .

“The people of this area have every right to expect to be treated equally in line with the central belt and Highlands as we travel towards a very exciting stage in our history.”

Petrucci said nobody worried about the area – it was simply where people had caught the ferries for 150 years – and the infrastructure served them well.

However, that changed in November 2011 when the last ferries left Stranraer and moved six miles up Loch Ryan to Cairnryan. Petrucci.said: “There was an anger, a disappointment, a confusion that our representatives had allowed it to occur.

“As that all subsided, a few local businessmen and women got together and created the Stranraer Development Trust ... We decided from the start to give this everything we have.”

The trust had done what it could – a now annual Stranraer Oyster Festival, the first of its type in Scotland, which had boosted jobs and the economy.

Music festivals were held, as well as the established cattle show, and the town was brightened up with flowers and plants. Next month it plays host to the Rural Parliament.

Petrucci said: “We, the people of Stranraer, are doing all and everything we can ... to regenerate and reinvigorate this area. We will continue to work tirelessly, but if you are serious about a united and equal Scotland, we need your help. Morally, you cannot ignore this area anymore.”

He said disrepair at the old Station Hotel building, 50 miles away in Ayr, had led to trains to Stranraer being halted there: “Those in power have managed to keep trains coming into Ayr station from the north but we are train-less. There are two roads into town – one from Ayrshire, one from England, the A75 and the A77. These are the roads that were neglected for decades.

There is hardly a dual carriageway between them till you pass Ayr in the north or Dumfries in the east.”

Petrucci urged Sturgeon to show townsfolk the same respect as elsewhere in Scotland. “This is a very real issue,” he said.

“There is no doubt in my mind that this area has been let down badly by Holyrood and basically abandoned. The forgotten land.”

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “We are committed to ensuring that all regions of Scotland thrive and recognise that there are specific individual challenges that Stranraer faces.

“To support inclusive growth in the South of Scotland we have committed an extra £10 million this year to support our South of Scotland Economic Partnership, with Stranraer one of the areas to benefit from this increased funding.

“Our South of Scotland Enterprise Bill introduced earlier this week recognises the distinctiveness of the area and will take tailored approach to supporting the economy of the South of Scotland. It will play a vital role in delivering our ambitions for the area, driving inclusive growth and supporting the rural economy.”