HEALTH chiefs have been accused of 'deliberately' allowing a former Greenock infirmary of regional importance to rot before selling the historic Victorian building for £1.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde offloaded the Ravenscraig Hospital and its 83-acre grounds to the Scottish Government for the token sum in a controversial land deal.

Officials immediately sold the site on — for the same £1 fee — to a private company social housing developer which stands to receive around £14m by building 198 new homes.

Campaigners opposed to the proposed development — which includes a plan to demolish the listed building — say the health board did nothing to preserve the ex-hospital.

In representations lodged with Inverclyde Council last November, when NHS GGC still owned it, objectors state: "The owners of the building deliberately let it deteriorate but this should not stand in the way of retaining it.

"It is an important landscape feature of historical significance to Inverclyde."

NHS GGC today failed to answer the accusation levelled that bosses allowed the listed hospital building to decay before the £1 sale, choosing instead to declare that the cost of restoring it as a healthcare facility would have been prohibitive.

The health board also seemed to imply that the development of social housing will definitely go ahead, despite the fact that the contentious planning application is yet to go before councillors for a decision.

A spokeswoman said: "The listed building has been lying vacant for a considerable time as it was no longer fit for modern healthcare and the cost to reinstate it would not have been good value for the public purse.

"An application for listed building consent for demolition was approved in November 2017 by Inverclyde Council.

"The Board is delighted that an under utilised facility is going to be developed into affordable homes for the residents of Inverclyde."

The spokeswoman added: "The new £7.3 million Inverclyde adult and older peoples continuing care hospital, Orchard View, located on the Inverclyde Royal Hospital grounds, now provides a first class, purpose-built healthcare facility for adults and older people within Inverclyde who require continuing mental health care."

We told last week how the Link Group Ltd — which bought the property and land for £1 from the More Homes division of the Scottish Government — was warned about serious toxic contamination in the Ravenscraig grounds months before completing the purchase.

Excess levels of potentially lethal chemicals were discovered around a year ago as part of a preliminary study by civil engineers who have urged 'vigilance' in case 'additional sources of gross contamination' are found.

According to an official government document, Edinburgh-based Link — whose Inverclyde offshoot is Larkfield Housing Association — stands to receive a grant of between £70,000 and £72,000 for each home it builds on the Ravenscraig site, which equates to around £13.8m.

Link Group has refused to answer a series of questions on the matter.

Meanwhile, Historic Environment Scotland — which has been involved with the Category B-listed hospital building since 2014 — has no objection to its demolition.

A spokeswoman for the body said: "We always welcome early engagement with owners and planners in more complex cases such as this, and accordingly, we visited and gave advice regarding the B-listed Ravenscraig hospital building in 2014.

"However, in July 2017 we were consulted by Inverclyde Council on a listed building consent application for its demolition. In assessing the case, we had regard for the supporting evidence provided by the applicants, and we concluded that the case did not warrant our objection.

"As regards the planning application for the housing development, we have not been consulted on this.

"We are consulted by local authorities on planning applications only where they consider that the proposed development could affect the setting of a scheduled monument, category A listed building, designated battlefield or garden or designed landscape.

"Apart from issues of public safety there is no statutory obligation upon the owner of a listed building to keep their property in a good state of repair, although it is usually in their interest to do so.

"There are however a range of statutory powers available to local authorities that can be used when an owner is unwilling or unable to remedy significant deterioration."