INVERCLYDE'S MSP says he's been told that the toxic former Ravenscraig Hospital site earmarked for social housing will be developed 'safely'.

Stuart McMillan made the disclosure after it emerged that homes are set be built directly on top of untreated chemical pollutants.

Bosses from Link Group Ltd said during a meeting with Mr McMillan that they intended to use the proposed 198-property development as 'the capping layer'.

Asked if he thought that housing people on top of the pollution — which includes cadmium, mercury, arsenic and lead — was satisfactory, the MSP said he had 'concerns about the land'.

But he declared that he had received assurances about the safety of the development.

Link previously gave assurances that the contaminants were 'not leachable, soluble and will not migrate horizontally' — then admitted that these claims were not true.

Mr McMillan said: "A number of constituents contacted me about the development of the Ravenscraig site last year. I then contacted and met with Inverclyde Council's head of planning, senior managers from Link Housing and the housing minister, Kevin Stewart MSP.

"From those meetings I was informed that any development will be done safely and all mitigation measures that are required will be undertaken.

"The development of brownfield sites is not new, and sites requiring remediation across Scotland are being developed on a daily basis, some with higher levels of contamination than the Ravenscraig site."

Mr McMillan added: "I have concerns about the land, that is why I have taken a lot of time to become familiar with the process that is followed to allow contaminated land to be built upon.

"The facts remains that many developments across Scotland are built on land that have contaminants in the soil.

"Inverclyde Council’s contaminated land officer is the key figure here and unless she is satisfied that the land is safe to be built upon and is safe for habitation, no one will be housed at Ravenscraig.

"I will read the remediation strategy proposed by Link when it is published and will seek further meetings to discuss it."

Link bought the 83-acre former NHS land for £1 and stands to receive £15m of public money from the Scottish Government for developing it.