INVERCLYDE Council is embroiled in another big court battle over Clune Park housing estate - five years after forking out around £1m in a failed bid to flatten it.

The setting for the latest chapter in the saga is the Court of Session in Edinburgh, as Municipal Buildings chiefs and property owners go head-to-head over a move by the local authority to impose an expensive levy on empty flats in the rundown scheme.

Legal counsel for the private owners at Clune Park argue that the council is in the wrong because the 'Long Term Empty Levy' should only be applied where the intention is to bring properties back into use.

The local authority's publicly-declared intention from the outset has always been to raze Clune Park to the ground and bring about a regeneration project, which was costed at £2.6m when the policy was first introduced in May 2011.

Guidance issued by the Scottish Government in 2018 in relation to long term unoccupied homes states that the purpose of the levy regulations 'is intended as an additional tool to help local authorities encourage owners to bring empty properties back into use'.

The guidance — signed off by housing minister Kevin Stewart — states this is 'both to increase the supply of housing for those who need homes and reduce the blight on communities caused by houses being left empty and allowed to fall into disrepair'.

Members of the council's policy and resources committee met behind closed doors last month to 'review information' presented to them by local authority officials on the matter.

This came after the council's QC in the Court of Session 'voluntarily offered an internal review to assist the court in its decision on progress of the judicial review', the local authority said.

A Municipal Buildings spokesman added: "The internal review related to private and confidential information about individuals which would not be appropriate to discuss in detail without the express permission of the individuals and while the current court case is active."

However, the council confirmed to the Telegraph that it 'continues to dispute' the basis of the legal case put by Clune Park property owners.

The council lost costly civil proceedings against Clune Park landlords at Greenock Sheriff Court back in 2016.

In his ruling on that case, Sheriff Derek Hamilton declared that its bid to bulldoze the housing estate was based on 'flawed', 'inadequate' and 'tainted' assumptions.

The Telegraph subsequently revealed that the cost to Inverclyde's taxpayers was in the region of £1m.

Council chiefs spent nearly £920,000 on litigation and other expenses, including £300,000 under the heading of 'external legal and court fees'.

Sheriff Hamilton described the evidence of a council appointed property expert as 'unscientific, speculative and selective'.

The council says that the long term empty levy is not Clune Park-specific.

The local authority's spokesperson said: "It is a policy available to all councils in Scotland and used by almost all and it applies to all long-term empty properties across all of Inverclyde regardless of location.

"That policy applies to properties that are empty for a minimum of 12 months and is not specific to Clune Park or to areas or properties subject to regeneration or to, for example, demolition orders."

The crunch Court of Session proceedings are due to resume on Monday, when it is expected that a date for a full hearing of the case will be set.