A LONG serving councillor and former Provost has joined the campaign to bring back James Watt College and restore the institution to its former glory.

Ciano Rebecchi is backing a push for a return to the further education centre's original name, in honour of Greenock's greatest son.

A petition for the West College Scotland campus to be renamed is gathering steam, with hundreds more people signing it.

The protest is being co-ordinated by The Save Our College campaign, led by EIS branch secretary Mark Gillan, which has also expressed concerns about a fall in the number of students, lecturers and course reductions.

Councillor Rebecchi says he echoes these concerns following a meeting with college bosses.

He said: "I am fully behind the campaign - the name James Watt should never have been taken away.

"It is recognised all over the world.

"When I was Provost we had students from China coming here.

"The James Watt name is so important and we could easily have called it the James Watt campus.

"We had a meeting with college bosses at the council and I wasn't impressed at all.

"I am unhappy with their investment in maintenance and I didn't see a great commitment to Greenock."

The Tele recently reported that the West College Scotland bosses had refused to consider renaming the campus to mark the 200th anniversary of the engineer's death.

James Watt College had been a fixture in the town for 100 years before the name disappeared as part of a merger with Clydebank and Reid Kerr.

Elswhere in the country the University of Birmingham has a James Watt campus and Glasgow University is leading the way with commemorations to mark 200 years since the famous inventor's death.

EIS branch secretary Mark Gillan said: "We are delighted with the petition, we have reached 700 signatures and the comments of support are incredible.

"The public are behind our fight.

"We have also had support from a number of councillors including Councillor Rebecchi."