A HISTORIC piece of land is to sit idle for another three years.

The vast area where John Brown's shipyard put Clydebank on the world map has mostly sat untouched for the last eight years since a grand plan to build on it was announced.

And at a West Dunbartonshire Council (WDC) Planning committee meeting on Tuesday June 1 permission was granted to delay starting work on the development for another three years subject to discussions of the conditions with the applicants Clydeside Regeneration and Scottish Natural Heritage.

The site's owner, a group called Clydeside Regeneration, wants to stall the development, which would include 1,650 homes, office space, shops, restaurants, bars and public space.

The Post reported two weeks ago how MSP Des McNulty was infuriated by the plan and called on WDC, which controls planning applications, to say "enough is enough".

This week Mr McNulty was puzzled why the application was allowed and called on the council to be stricter with the owner.

He told the Post: "The owners have had their chance to put new houses on the site and they fluffed it.

"The council should have taken them to task and pushed for a different kind of plan.

"This must be one last chance and West Dunbartonshire Council should not wait for them to fail again before taking a pro-active stance." The owners say that the housing market is currently "not viable" for such a project.

Gil Paterson, SNP MSP for the area, hit out at Mr McNulty, saying that the old Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition at Holyrood had knocked back a bid from WDC to buy the land.

Mr Paterson said: "We are all suffering from Labour's lack of controls and the reduction of regulation of the banks which has been a disaster for developers and the building trade.

"Yes, the John Brown's site is a mess but who is ultimately to blame? You can firmly lay it all at the Labour Party's door." Mr McNulty said the bid had come 10-years-ago and admitted frustration that Scottish Enterprise, a quango set up to support Scottish business, had not helped the council on that occasion.

He added: "I strongly campaigned for the site to be bought, but ever since Clydeside Regeneration has treated it as a pension pot, which is a disgrace."