DEVELOPERS want to build nearly 30 new homes in Gourock after making a £375,000 offer to buy a former adult care unit, the Telegraph can reveal.

Inverclyde Council is in negotiations over the sale of the former McPherson Centre with a proposal on the table to demolish the building to make way for 27 houses.

The plans form part of a bid from Titan Homes (Scotland) to buy the site.

Documents seen by the Tele show that local authority officials are in favour of accepting the offer, although a final decision has yet to be made.

It's one of four bids made for the McPherson Drive site - two of which have been submitted by Titan - but it has been made on the condition that the company would receive planning permission to press ahead with the housing development.

The offer is the highest on the table but falls £25k short of the £400k asking price set by the district valuer - and the local authority would also have to fork out up to £70k to demolish the centre before handing over the land.

In the report seen by the Tele, officials said: "The McPherson Centre was declared surplus in October 2018 at which time authority was given to market the property and bring back a report providing details and a recommendation of any offers received.

"The property was marketed for a number of months and received 12 definite notes of interest. "A closing date was set for November 22, 2019, at which time four bids were received."

According to the report, there are no objections in principle to a residential development on the site.

But there are concerns that there would be insufficient 'open space' to satisfy local planning rules.

Titan is said to be willing to 'honour its bid' of £375k if six houses had to be sacrificed to meet the requirements.

Council officers have noted 'concern' over increased traffic in upper Gourock and say this should be factored into any future planning decisions.

The McPherson Centre closed down following a merger with Greenock's Fitzgerald Centre.

Cash from the sale of the centre would be used to fund the costs of a new learning disability facility.

A spokesperson for Inverclyde Council said today: "At the closing date we did receive a number of bids for the McPherson Centre but nothing has been accepted yet so they are commercially sensitive information at this point. "The report on the bids went to committee in January but the report was carried over to the March committee to consider potential community use on the site. "The next meeting is March 5 when the sale of the site will be reconsidered."

The McPherson Centre supported adults with learning disabilities and shut last year as part of local authority cost-cutting.

Eight people lost their jobs and services were moved to the Fitzgerald Centre in Greenock.