INVERCLYDE Council leader Stephen McCabe is in the running for a national award for helping to secure a major deal which could bring more than 1,000 jobs to the area.

Councillor McCabe has been nominated for the Local Politician of the Year Award along with the leaders of the other seven Clyde Valley councils.

It is in recognition of sealing the City Deal agreement for Glasgow and the Clyde Valley with the UK and Scottish governments.

Each government will give the region £500 million in grant funding, and the local authorities will pump in a further £130m.

It is hoped 1,500 jobs could be created in Inverclyde under three initiatives.

Greenock Ocean Terminal will be expanded at a cost of £14.2m, a £9.4m renewables hub will be established at Inchgreen drydock and road improvements worth £3.8m will take place on the A78 at Inverkip to pave the way for redevelopment of the former power station site.

Councillor McCabe said: “It’s nice to be recognised in this way.

“A lot of hard work went into trying to secure the deal.” He paid tribute to Glasgow Council leader Gordon Matheson, who was brought up in Port Glasgow and still has relatives living in the area, for his influential role in the huge funding package.

Mr McCabe said: “He was very much the driving force behind it, supported by the other leaders.” Work on the road improvements at Inverkip should be ready to start in about two years and be completed by October 2017. The Ocean Terminal expansion project is to begin in 2017, and investment at Inchgreen is scheduled to start in 2021.

Inverclyde is joined in the ambitious initiative by Glasgow City, East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, South Lanarkshire and West Dunbartonshire.

The award ceremony takes place tomorrow evening.