West Dunbartonshire Council has agreed to purchase land for a new District Heating Network energy centre in Clydebank.

Councillors on the Infrastructure, Regeneration & Economic Development (IRED) committee have approved plans to release £450,000 to buy the required land from Clydeside Regeneration Limited (CRL).

The new centre will power the District Heating Network from the site of the former John Brown's shipyard. Water will be extracted from the River Clyde through heat pumps and directed to businesses and homes via insulated pipes to be used for heating.

The project forms part of a wider £250 million regeneration of the area, which will see up to 200 rented homes and 1,000 private homes built, all of which will benefit from the new heating system.

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A number of public buildings are also set to be heated by the network including West College Scotland, Clydebank's new Leisure Centre, the new care home and health centre at the site, council offices at Aurora House, the Titan Business Centre, the Town Hall and Clydebank Library.

In addition, the IRED committee heard how the Network could be expanded into the wider Clydebank area in the coming years, as well as how lessons learned at this stage could be used to create similar heating schemes elsewhere in West Dunbartonshire.

The Network will also contribute towards the council's climate change targets to reduce CO2 emissions by 15% over the next seven years.

Cllr Iain McLaren, Convener of IRED, said: "We are delighted that the committee agreed the purchase of the land, which really marks the final big step in this incredibly important and ambitious project.

"With planning permission in place and the purchase of the land for the energy centre agreed, work can start on this first phase of the District Heating Network."

Work is expected to begin early in 2018, with the Network being commissioned by the end of 2018 and generating heat by early 2019.

(LM/CD)