Swinney visits 'crisis' towns asking for help after 1,500 job losses

John Swinney is facing calls for government action to support one of Scotland's smallest council areas as it struggles with the cumulative loss of 1,500 jobs.

The first minister will spend much of the day touring Inverclyde at the invitation of the local authority to see for himself the special challenges facing the region.

Council leader Stephen McCabe says a drip feed of closures has left the area facing a desperate jobs crisis, on top of years of deindustrialisation and depopulation.

Swinney will meet local politicians and a community group as well as managers from the nationalised Ferguson shipyard, a week after they announced plans to shed a quarter of its workforce.

Other employers which have cut jobs in recent years include IBM, Amazon, BPI Berry, EE, Cigna International Health, RBS and Kindryl.

McCabe believes the piecemeal shedding of jobs has not attracted the same political attention as other high-profile closures.

The impact is magnified, he argues, because Inverclyde has a population of just 78,000, having fallen by a fifth in the past 50 years.

"We've now lost 1,500 to 1,800 jobs," he told BBC Scotland News.

"For an area the size of Inverclyde that's the equivalent of 15,000 in Glasgow."

The area's two largest towns are Greenock and Port Glasgow.

They were once at the heart of Scotland's economic prosperity, first through herring fishing and transatlantic trade, then shipbuilding and engineering, while nearby Gourock was a popular Victorian seaside resort.

An almost unbroken line of slipways, cranes and workshops employing thousands of workers once stretched for miles along the south bank of the lower Clyde.

Greenock was also known for sugar refining, at one point boasting 15 refineries, earning it the nickname Sugaropolis.

But the shipbuilding industry crumbled rapidly in the 1970s and 1980s, and Tate & Lyle shut the final Greenock sugar refinery in 1997.

There were hopes that electronics firms such as IBM would replace the old industries but the "Silicon Glen" dream faltered, with the firm scaling down its operations, then closing its main Spango Valley site in 2016.

The establishment of an Amazon "fulfilment centre" at Gourock provided a glimmer of hope in the early 2000s but that too shut down three years ago.

McCabe, who leads a minority Labour administration, wants ministers to treat the area as a special case, providing more incentives to attract new employers.

He said: "It's time for the Scottish government to recognise that Inverclyde is a priority.

"We've seen how they responded to other jobs crises in the likes of Grangemouth and Alexander Dennis at Falkirk.

"They need to recognise the jobs that we've lost is so significant that there needs to be special support."

A socio-economic taskforce set up four years ago put forward regeneration proposals totalling £70m - and some money has been forthcoming.

A £24m redevelopment of central Greenock, mainly funded by UK Levelling Up money, is currently under way to improve the appearance and layout of the town.

About £11m of public funds has been spent upgrading facilities at the Inchgreen Marine Park, a joint venture owned by the council and Peel Ports - although campaigners complain they have yet to see it generate any jobs.

Another £20m was recently pledged from the UK's Growth Mission Fund to repair the Inchgreen dry dock - a huge ship repair facility barely used in two decades - and to set up a maritime training centre.

Community activist Kevin Green, who runs the PG25 regeneration group in Port Glasgow, supports the call for special treatment.

But he also wants to see a more joined-up approach and an end to what he calls "political Punch and Judy".

Asked what his message would be for the first minister, he said: "Don't work in silos.

"We've got different politicians from different parties all saying the same thing, but it takes leadership."

A year ago, Green was instrumental in killing off the annual "most dismal town" Carbuncle award when he refused to accept it on behalf of Port Glasgow.

Instead, he persuaded architectural magazine Urban Realm to retire the "Plook on the Plinth" trophy and award the town a new "Heart on Your Sleeve" award in recognition of its community spirit in the face of adversity.

Green believes that, despite the challenges, the area has huge potential as a destination for regional hospitality and tourism

"We've got unrestricted access to a river, we've got 100 square miles of regional park sitting in our back garden and we've got a thriving retail park," he said.

"We get 120,000 [cruise ship] passengers in every year - how do we create an economy that secures 20 quid off each of them?"

PG 25 is based in John Wood Street, where the shops were donated to the community years ago by the owners of Lithgows shipbuilders.

But many are now empty and cannot be leased because they are waiting for repairs.

"The community is going to have to support each other - and these are ideal spaces to do that, currently sitting derelict. We need to put them to use," Green said.

"The biggest message to John Swinney and everybody who's taking part in this is that we need some co-ordination that's not political. We're needing a plan."