AT the time of writing, the shocking news regarding the future closure of EE’s Greenock call centre site has not long been announced.

My thoughts are with the hundreds of staff who’re affected by this decision.

I raised this at FMQs on Thursday and welcomed the First Minister’s assurances that the Scottish Government will work directly with Inverclyde Council and BT Group following this news.

Although no redundancies will happen, this site closure will have a detrimental effect upon all the staff. Not everyone will be able to work in Glasgow and this will ultimately mean some people will lose their jobs.

In addition to this, will be the local retailers and eateries that will miss out on the trade they previously enjoyed from staff.

During the Scottish Budget debate in the chamber later that afternoon, I expressed some of my thoughts about this decision and the effect it will have on our community.

Time and time again when Ronnie Cowan MP and myself have visited the site, we have asked about its future. This was even more important when EE came together with BT Group. No threat of closure was ever given.

There tended to be recruitment campaigns underway to fill vacancies. We were also informed about the part time working which enabled more women to get back into the workplace after having children.

We now find ourselves with another large building in Greenock that will become vacant hence the reason I have raised the question about a future use of the building bearing in mind we need both a new college and police station.