A senior official in one of Scotland's most famous army regiments has strongly criticised plans to build a motorway through a WWI battlefield in Belgium.

Hundreds of Scottish soldiers died in Ypres and unmarked graves still contain their remains.

The regimental secretary of the Black Watch, Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Lindsay, said the Belgian authorites were showing "a lack of 'respect''.

The Flanders regional government plans to extend the A19 to connect Ypres to the coast.

The route would pass along the Pilckem Ridge, part of the Ypres Salient, which saw some of the heaviest and most bloody fighting during WWI.

Lt Colonel Stephen Lindsay: "Lack of respect''

More than 200,000 British Empire soldiers lost their lives on the Western Front around Ypres.

As many as 50,000 bodies have never been recovered.

The motorway would run within 100 yards of some of the existing war cemeteries and directly over an area where the troops' remains lie.

The Black Watch lost more men in the 1914-1918 war than in all other conflicts.

'Rethink' call

Lt Colonel Lindsay said construction of the road on the proposed route would cause "widespread distress".

He urged the authorities to rethink the plan.

The proposals have sharply divided opinion within Belgium.

The Black Watch lost many men at Ypres

Supporters say it will boost the local economy and reduce accidents on the existing overcrowded roads.

Opponents want the battlefield declared a World Heritage Site to prevent further development.

In January, the Labour peer Lord Faulkner called on the UK Government to back his campaign to halt the development, which he said was "offensive".

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission said its office in Ypres was keeping a "close watching brief" on the issue.