The leader of Inverclyde Council is backing plans for a low-carbon power plant in neighbouring North Ayrshire.

Councillor Stephen McCabe has written to his North Ayrshire Council counterpart, Councillor Joe Cullinane, to lend his support for the proposed development at Ardeer.

It is one of five sites and the only Scottish location under consideration to host the Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP) facility as part of a UK Government initiative to build a prototype fusion power plant.

The aim is to produce low-carbon energy using fusion – the process that powers the sun and all the stars in the universe.

Mr McCabe says such a development in neighbouring North Ayrshire would also be beneficial to Inverclyde and the rest of the west coast of Scotland

Cllr McCabe said: “I am delighted to offer my support to this exciting project.

“It is a project with the capacity to deliver not just specialist jobs to the west of Scotland but to support a range of conventional jobs through the construction phase and beyond.

“As one of the founding Glasgow City Region partners we recognise the value in supporting each other across boundaries to bring large scale infrastructure projects to the west of Scotland.”

The bid is a collaboration between North Ayrshire Council, University of Glasgow and landowners NPL Group.

It is expected that the development, on a former industrial site, would deliver around 3,500 skilled jobs during the construction phase and up to 1,000 engineers, technicians and support staff once the plant is operational.

Up to five per cent of those posts would be apprenticeships and graduate positions.

If the bid is successful, the aim is for the plant to be operational by 2040.