THE private company refusing to answer questions over its plan to build nearly 200 homes on toxic land in Greenock bought the site for £1 — from the Scottish Government.

Link Group Ltd knew about excess levels of chemicals in the ground at the former Ravenscraig Hospital because bosses commissioned an expert report the year before they acquired the land.

The housing provider would receive around £70,000 in government grant money for each home it builds on the 83-acre site.

The Telegraph told yesterday how toxic and cancer-causing substances — including cadmium, mercury, arsenic and lead — have been discovered as part of a preliminary survey of the land.

Health board chiefs sold the entire plot, and the rundown Category B listed former hospital building, to a division of the Scottish Government for £1, and it was passed on to Link Group for the same nominal sum within 24 hours in what is called a 'back to back transaction'.

The deal was done on March 29 this year but Link Group chiefs had, several months earlier, instructed civil engineers to conduct the site investigation which revealed 'multiple exceedances' of the poisonous materials.

Experts Fairhurst published their 38-page geo-environmental and geotechnical report, highlighting the dangers, in November 2017.

In a written submission to Inverclyde Council's planning board, campaigners opposed to the proposed development state: "This area of ground is unfit for human habitation."

More Homes, the arm of the Scottish Government involved in the £1 sale deals, said today that discussions about buying the Ravenscraig site and former hospital began 17 months ago, in March 2017.

A government spokesman said: "Link Group considered the degree of contamination, and how this should be dealt with, presented by the site and used the information gathered to inform its assessment of the costs to develop the site for affordable housing. This, in turn, informed the valuation of the site.

"Link Group have shared the summaries and recommendations from the site investigations with More Homes. The information provided identifies the issues that need to be managed for the site to be developed."

The spokesman added: "More Homes was aware that the Link Group had asked their consultants to carry out a range of site investigations to establish the issues involved with this site and how they could be addressed."

According to a More Homes guidance note issued in April, the grant subsidy benchmark for a three-person equivalent home under the control of a social housing in an urban area is between £70,000 and £72,000.

The government spokesman said: "Grant is awarded to approved housing projects that are prioritised by the local authority in line with our published guidance note."

Link Group has refused to answer a series of questions posed by the Telegraph regarding the proposed development.