HOPES of restoring an old River Clyde pier look to have sunk without trace after council bosses said they have no legal responsibility for it.

Campaigners have been petitioning to see Lamont's Pier in Port Glasgow repaired and restored.

But legal experts from Inverclyde Council have established that the pier is not in council ownership.

The issue was discussed at a meeting of the environment and regeneration committee where council officials said that it has proved 'impossible' to establish a definitive position on the pier ownership although the local authority does own a 'small' portion of the pier nearest to the land.

Speaking after the meeting, council leader Stephen McCabe said: "Our officers are essentially saying we don't know who owns it and potentially it could take years and years to establish the ownership.

"Even if the council wanted to, we're not in a position to acquire it."

A council report says the pier ownership is extremely complex.

It appears that James Lamont and Company Limited could potentially own it but is involved in a legal dispute which means that the ownership may fall to the Crown Estate, but that remains unclear.

It states: "Officers instructed an investigation of the ownership position by external searching agents.

"The searchers have confirmed the last recorded title to the area on which the pier sits is a deed in favour of James Lamont and Company Limited from 1935.

"Whilst the registers show much of the land owned by that company was transferred to Strathclyde Regional Council in 1980, that transfer did not include the subjects of the 1935 deed.

"Those subjects, including the pier built on them, therefore remain on the face of the registers in the ownership of James Lamont and Company."

But there is an ongoing legal dispute which makes the ownership of the pier unclear.

The report revealed: "James Lamont and Company Limited was removed from the Companies Register in 2011, at which point all assets of the dissolved company will have fallen to the Crown.

"The company was however subsequently brought back on to the registers in relation to a court action raised against it.

"This means that the subject of the 1935 deed are once again in the ownership of the company.

"The Companies registers show regular returns as outstanding from the company, meaning it is likely that once that action has run its course, the company will once again be removed from the register."

Council leader Stephen McCabe said 'there's not a will for the council to buy it with a view to upgrade it'.

He added: "That might happen at some point in the future, we might get a councillor saying this is a good idea and they might put forward a proposal saying we should be setting money aside to upgrade it but nobody has done that as this point in time.

"Or maybe a group of like-minded public campaigners might start raising funds and look to try and acquire it.

"But they would face the same difficulties of not knowing who actually owns it - and if it is established that it's James Lamont then it might be the case that they're not able to buy it and it will continue to sit there unused and blocked off.

"At this point in time, it certainly does not appear that anyone wants to make this a priority given all the other challenges that we face as a council."