A FORWARD-THINKING film fan lobbied James Bond himself in a bid to bring a film studio to Inverclyde.

Councillor Jim MacLeod has revealed his late father, also Jim, had written to the screen legend Sean Connery years ago to try and kick-start the cameras in the area.

The local politician told how his late father, who passed away in 2010, also came up with the idea of transforming the Sugar Sheds and waterside into a Harry Potter theme park.

Councillor MacLeod contacted the Telegraph following recent articles in the paper which revealed sites in Inverclyde had been earmarked for the possible creation of a national film and TV studio set.

He said: “My late father wrote and spoke to various people over several years, going back about 10 years ago or more, about trying to bring the TV and film industry to Inverclyde.

“One of the venues my late father suggested was the Sugar Sheds and I know he spoke to a few local people about this, including some prominent local politicians at the time.

“He even suggested turning the Sugar Sheds and waterside around it into a Harry Potter theme park and wrote to JK Rowling about this too.

“Her publishers at the time wrote back saying he would need to write to Warner Brothers as they owned the rights to the Harry Potter character. I remember helping my dad to write the letter at the time. Sadly we never got a favourable response back from them.

“My dad also wrote to Sean Connery and a Japanese film company about locating to Inverclyde. This was about the time there were discussions that a film studio could open up on the east coast of Scotland outside of Edinburgh.” He said his dad was ahead of his time in many ways, saying: “For those who knew my dad, he was always an ideas man, coming up with many over the years.

“He often wrote to the Scottish and UK governments and was a man with vision often ahead of his time.

“He certainly gave me many good ideas, as he did others.” Several areas have been outlined in a document produced by Inverclyde Council — including the historic Sugar Sheds, pictured, Garvel Island, Spango Valley and the former St Stephen’s High in Port Glasgow – with the view to bringing a national set to Inverclyde.

MSP Duncan McNeil has had several meetings with executives and is still pursuing the plan.