Officials have earmarked the former Wellington Academy site for the facility to replace the crumbling Duncan Street building, which is in a state of disrepair.

Plans were at an advanced stage, with the Dempster Street plot the preferred option and funding approved in the summer.

But now Scottish Government officials have gone ‘back to stage one’ and are looking at alternative sites — which means the opening of the new health centre is likely to be delayed until 2018 or 2019.

It is understood there is a shortlist of four other locations now in the mix, including land at the waterfront close to the Beacon Arts Centre.

The shock update was given at a meeting of the Inverclyde Joint Integration Board, which includes representatives from the council and the health board.

Local authority leader Stephen McCabe, who also sits on the board, says members were ‘perplexed’ about the developments.

He says there are also question marks over the availability of funding due to ongoing discussions between the Scottish Government and the European Union about how major projects like the new medical centre are paid for — and the row could also impact on a mental health facility to replace Ravenscraig Hospital.

Councillor McCabe said: “Members are unhappy that having developed a detailed business case for a new health centre on the site of the former Wellington Academy the Scottish Government is now requiring a new options appraisal to identify a suitable site.

“This will undoubtedly delay the project to 2018 or 2019, assuming the Scottish Government can come up with the funding.

“There is a technical accounting issue that is delaying confirmation of the funding and this issue is also affecting the new facility to replace Ravenscraig.

“This facility has been under discussion since 2008 and there is still no clear timescale for its construction.” Deputy First Minister John Swinney confirmed in June that £19m would be made available to fund a new Greenock health centre and work was expected to get underway as early as 2017.

But a new report by council officer Brian Moore, head of the Inverclyde Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP), says: “An initial agreement has been developed, outlining the improvements that are envisaged through the development of a new health centre facility, and this will be submitted to the NHS board for approval prior to formally submitting it to the Scottish Government.

“It had been hoped that this would be the October 2015 NHS board meeting, however a technical issue around procurement procedures and European Union requirements has stalled the process. We await resolution by the Scottish Government before submitting our initial agreement for formal approval.” Councillor McCabe says he now has ‘major concerns’ about the project.

He said: “Basically it appears to me it’s back to the start of the process. There are definitely major concerns about these delays and major concerns in terms of funding and if these issues can be resolved.

“People have been led to the top of the hill, shown the promised land and suddenly it’s not as straightforward as it was supposed to be.

“We were under the impression that because of the detailed work done by the health board it’s just a matter of finalising the design, going out to tender and getting the work underway expecting it to be ready in 2017.

“Now it looks like, assuming the funding is sorted, it could be 2018 or even 2019.

“It’s fair to say there is a fair amount of exasperation and disappointment that we seem to be going back to step one and potentially going to delay the project and we’re concerned about the funding, which the government is not in a position to confirm.

“A replacement Greenock Health Centre is badly needed.

“We were keen on the Wellington Academy site because it would have helped with the redevelopment of the wider Broomhill area.”