COUNCIL chiefs are attempting to resurrect a flood relief scheme for Inverclyde after the Scottish Government threw out a £3.1 million funding bid.

Municipal Buildings bosses are understood to be locked in ‘dialogue’ with Holyrood and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) in a fresh move to secure the much needed money.

But it will be TWO YEARS before a fresh application can be made.

The latest developments come after the Tele told on Thursday how a panel made up of local authority umbrella body COSLA and government representatives had rejected Inverclyde’s plan.

They declared that it did not meet funding criteria.

The council had wanted to target 16 flood-prone areas throughout the district instead of proposing one large scheme — arguing that the area’s unique topography renders it susceptible to flooding from a variety of sources.

Council bosses have accused the government of giving ‘very mixed messages’ after initially encouraging Inverclyde to apply for the cash.

They confirmed today that officials are now primed to enter into further in-depth discussions aimed at protecting local areas from flooding misery.

Mr McCabe said: “We were obviously enormously disappointed to have the bid rejected.

“Every resident in Inverclyde knows the significant issues the area has had with flooding.

“With the unique topography that makes up Inverclyde with the Clyde estuary on our doorstep, our solutions don’t quite fit the scheme that many other areas have of one big major solution.

“With the main A8 trunk road often badly affected and on occasions closed when there is severe flooding, it is vitally important that the Scottish Government in particular is involved in any discussions around flooding solutions in Inverclyde.

“Now that the dust has settled on the latest bidding round there are two years to go before the next one opens up.

“It is welcome news that officers from the council, government and COSLA have been in dialogue and time is being taken to look in detail at whether the proposal can be brought back to the table.

“It is important that officers are now given the opportunity to jointly review the bid and report back in due course”.

Meanwhile, local MSP Stuart McMillan today waded into the flood funding refusal row — and blamed council chiefs for failing to secure the multi-million-pound cash pot.

The SNP’s Mr McMillan insisted that the council had questions to answer over why it did not ‘tailor’ its bid to the rules set out by the government.

Mr McMillan said: “Questions must be asked why Inverclyde Council did not tailor its application to suit the criteria laid down by the Scottish Government.

“I hope the local authority will liaise with the Scottish Government to ensure any future applications for flood funding are robust and meet the criteria specified.” Inverclyde was among a group of seven councils which had applied for a share of £40 million worth of flood mitigation investment — but only two authorities met the funding criteria laid down by ministers in Edinburgh.

Mr McCabe — who recently crossed swords with Mr McMillan over the council tax freeze — today rejected the MSP’s comments about the flooding matter.

He told the Telegraph: “In response to Mr McMillan, he will see from our statement that the council did liaise with the Scottish Government and did seek and were given assurances on our projects.

“That is why it is so extremely disappointing for both the council and the citizens of Inverclyde that those assurances and the encouragement we received to bid turned out, effectively, to be worthless.”