A CAMPAIGN has been launched to develop the former Greenock High School site and turn it into an entertainment park.

Barry Anderson, 38, a local IT professional, came up with the idea and is now gathering public support for it.

He says the barren land is big enough that it could be turned into something similar to Soar at Braehead, which was previously called Xscape.

The Inverkip Road site has lain empty since the secondary school building, latterly used by St Columba’s High, was demolished in 2014. A new £75m women’s jail was supposed to be built there but the plan was scrapped at the eleventh hour by the Scottish Government last year.

Barry, who lives in Overton, has now launched a Facebook campaign calling for something to be done with the site. He believes an entertainment park like the one at Braehead would boost employment, provide a much-needed cash injection into the local economy and improve recreational facilities for the people of Inverclyde.

Barry told the Tele: “This project would reduce crime like underage drinking in the area, as the kids will have options for things to do.

“It would create jobs and generally allow the town to prosper once again.

“The old high school site provides the ideal location for something of this nature with the train line, which is already situated there, and the amount of land that is available for the complex and parking.

“This would allow families to have something on their doorstep which could be accessible by public transport.”

The idea has already captured the imagination of hundreds of local people – 645 of them have signed up to the campaign so far.

Now Barry wants to lobby the powers-that-be and enlist their backing to see if his suggestion is feasible.

Barry, who works for Rolls Royce, says an  additional incentive of an entertainment park is that it could boost tourism, by encouraging visiting cruise ship passengers to spend their money in Inverclyde.

He said: “Recently we have seen an increased amount of cruise liners porting in Greenock and nothing is being done to entice the passengers into the town to spend money.

“The tourists basically jump straight into a taxi and onto Glasgow, Silverburn, Braehead or further afield."

The former Greenock High plot is controlled by the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) but officials say there are currently no plans for it.

A spokeswoman for the SPS said: “We still own the site but there’s no further update at this time.”