PLANNING bosses have recommended councillors approve plans to treat polluted land in Old Kilpatrick ahead of a major development.

The Malin Group wants to use the former Carless Oil Terminal at Erskine Ferry Road to create a new marine manufacturing hub which would create nearly 1,000 jobs.

But the 18-hectares site includes land used previously for oil processing, buildings and huge tanks.

Operated first as a fuel storage facility for the Admiralty in 1916, it finally closed as a commercial storage site in 1992, before lying empty for the next quarter of a century.

There is contamination by hydrocarbons and Malin submitted a plan to remediate the site by removing the current toxic soil.

Oil, gasoline and petroleum would be removed via boreholes, sump or bulk excavation and then a mix of onsite and offsite treatment or disposal.

On the western and central parts of the site, there could also be a hanging barrier along the Clyde to protect the river during the programme.

And on the eastern part, there would be further monitoring of existing boreholes to confirm there were no contaminants.

Read more: Marine ‘hub’ to bring 1000 jobs to Old Kilpatrick site

The land is next to a special protection area and the treatment is expected to improve conditions around the Clyde.

There were no objections from any public bodies, including Scottish Natural Heritage, the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency or any West Dunbartonshire Council (WDC) departments.

Only one member of the public made a submission about the planning application - a local employee supporting the idea but with some concerns over construction traffic and parking.

Planning bosses concluded: “A number of site investigations have been conducted on site to identify the relevant primary pollutant sources and pathways on the site.

“The applicant’s submitted remediation strategy has defined, to a sufficient level, the intended approaches to removing/reducing the primary pollutants from the land and therefore allowing reduction or removal of the site’s current contaminated land and special site status and reduces the risk of pollution to the River Clyde.

“It is important to note that each phase of built development on the site will potentially require being subject to its own remediation plans, linked to the intended use.

“These would be considered as each development phase comes forward.”

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Councillors on the planning committee will consider the idea tomorrow.

Marine specialist firm Malin Group took ownership of the brownfield site in 2017, which has direct access to a deep-water channel via an 80m-long quayside berth with heavy-lift facilities.