MORE than 2200 people have signed a petition calling for the legendary Inchgreen dry dock in Greenock to be brought back to full working life.

What started as a one-man bid by former shipyard worker Robert Buirds from Port Glasgow to publicise the giant dock’s plight has mushroomed into an all-out campaign to save Inchgreen for shipbuilding on the Clyde.

Buirds, 68, has already called for the Scottish Government to buy the dock – the liner Queen Elizabeth 2 was famously fitted out there – from current owners Peel Ports Group.

The former Inchgreen trade union official set up the Campaign to Save Inchgreen Drydock both online and by canvassing for signatures. By last night more than 2200 people had signed, with more expected when the campaign moves to Greenock’s Oak Mall Shopping Centre today.

Buirds told The National: “We are now getting strong political support to add to the public support for which we are grateful.

“At the moment all we want is for Peel Ports to tell us their plans for the dock and if they have no plans then it should be given to someone who can do something to bring jobs and investment here, such as Jim McColl did at the Ferguson yard.

“We have been hearing concil- iatory noises from Peel Ports and they have pledged to put £6.1 million into the site which is one of three Inverclyde projects being funded by the Glasgow and Clyde Valley City Deal programme.

“However, we need to hear much more from them because it’s been obvious in recent months and years that the dock isn’t getting enough work to survive, the last two jobs lasting just a few days each.”

According to Buirds, Peel Ports, which runs Inchgreen through its Birkenhead-based shipbuilding subsidiary Cammell Laird, favours the Mersey over the Clyde, a charge the company denies.

Buirds said: “We are trying to exert as much pressure as we can on Peel Ports. They virtually own much of the Clyde and it is all controlled from Merseyside, with the harbour master, pilots and tugs all coming from elsewhere. If the Type 31 frigate contracts don’t go to the Clyde there will be a lot of jobs lost here and you would have to question the whole future of the Clyde under a firm that is based elsewhere.

“They seem not have any plans other than to say they are in discussions which they have to keep confidential for commercial reasons.

“They have put Inchgreen under Cammell Laird, which gets the first call on ship repair work, so Inchgreen is well down the list for work.

“It is used intermittently and often it’s just boats or barges for a couple of days at a time. The last big job was 10 years ago with the MoD contract for the floating pier for the Clyde Submar- ine Base and since then there has been a gradual decline.”

McColl expressed an interest in taking on Inchgreen when he re- established the Ferguson yard, but he was unable to come to an arrangement with Peel Ports to use the 1000ft-long dry dock. It was the largest in the UK when it was opened in 1964 by the Firth of Clyde Dry Dock company.

Inchgreen survived going into liquidation in 1967, with Lithgows – later Scott Lithgow – taking it over just in time to accommodate the QE2, which was launched from the John Brown yard at Clydebank.

The latest fears for the dock’s future were heightened last summer when three giant cranes around it were demolished.

Buirds added: “We now need volunteers to form a campaign committee to take our objective forward. I envisage that being part of the committee will not take up a lot of people’s time, but many hands make light work.”

A spokesman for Peel Ports Group said, “Inchgreen is currently in use with an area leased to a marine construction company. We remain fully committed to further developing Inchgreen for port-related uses and are in discussion with a number of interested parties. Peel Ports Group has no plans to sell Inchgreen.”

People can sign the petition by visiting Campaign to Save Inchgreen Dry Dock at the 38 Degrees website.