INVERCLYDE’S council leader has said the local authority needs to develop a ‘plan B’ for self-build housing plots in Kilmacolm which have lain empty for more than a decade.

Councillor Stephen McCabe says alternative uses for the site at Leperstone Avenue may have to be considered, and suggested that specialist housing for people with additional support needs could be an option in the future.

Members of the council’s environmental and regeneration committee agreed last week to reduce the asking prices for the five remaining sites at the seven-plot self-build development scheme.

The plots were originally offered up by the local authority as part of a repopulation drive for the area, but to date only two of the seven have been sold.

And while councillors have agreed to continue to market the plots at their lowered prices, council leader Stephen McCabe now says he believes the local authority should explore back-up options for the site.

He told the committee meeting: “I don’t have any problem with reducing the sale values of the sites at this point in time, but we’ve been at this for a long time.

“I just think we have to place a limit on how much longer we’re going to continue to market these plots for the particular purpose that they were produced for.

“I would certainly expect there to be a further report back to this committee within 12 months to tell us how successful this has been.

“There probably needs to be discussion in the intervening period - because it will become apparent within 12 months whether we’ve been successful not - about a plan B.

“We simply cannot leave these vacant plots undeveloped for the next 20 years. We’ve sold a development here that there are going to be seven houses built on that land.

“Two families have bought into that. One has built a house and one recently got revised planning permission to build a house. We’re hoping that will go forward, but we can’t leave two houses [developed] and the other sites not.”

The council leader suggested that the local authority could consider alternative uses for the plots if officials are not successful in the selling the remaining spaces.

He added: “We need to look at alternate uses of the plots if the marketing strategy is not successful.

“It could be, for example, specialist type housing accommodation. There’s certainly a demand for special needs type housing that, potentially, that could be a suitable site for.

“So I’m happy for us to continue to market for a further period of time, but we need to ensure there’s a report back.

"And if we’re not successful in selling these sites we should look at alternative uses of the plots to ensure that the development is completed.”

The changes approved by councillors will see the plot values altered for plots 1, 2, 4, 6 and 7 at the site and will bring the overall site value down from £523,000 to £475,000.