THE exploded Inchgreen drydock cranes in Greenock should have been listed, says an MP who has today called for the facility to be developed into a commercial shipyard.

Labour’s Shadow Scottish Minister, Paul Sweeney, said it should be transformed into a new commercial yard like Germany’s Meyer Werft in Papenburg, one of the world’s leading builders of luxury passenger ships.

Mr Sweeney, who was elected in June, said: “Inchgreen is a nationally important dock facility.

“I was dismayed to see the last portal luffing cranes on Clydeside destroyed on Sunday.

“They should have been listed.”

The son of a shipbuilder, Mr Sweeney worked for defence giant BAE and Scottish Enterprise before being elected to the House of Commons.

The Inchgreen drydock, the largest in Scotland and one of the biggest in the UK, is owned by Peel Ports Clydeport, who have refused to rule out the possibility that houses could be built there.

They say they had to demolish the cranes because they hadn’t been used for a decade, and were too expensive to insure and keep in good condition.

Concerns have been expressed to the Tele by local people that the drydock could now be filled in and housing put on the site.

Both Greenock and Inverclyde MSP Stuart McMillan and Inverclyde Council leader Stephen McCabe have called for jobs to be created at the Inchgreen site.

But Peel will say only that the demolition ‘will enable alternative uses for the estate to be explored which will be to the benefit of the local community’.

Council officers are to seek clarification from Peel on their future intentions for the drydock.