The £27m redevelopment planned for the former Exxon oil terminal includes an A82 relief road and at least 20,000 of industrial and commercial development space.

The scheme is expected to support up 690 jobs and to potential generate an additional £31.9million a year for the local economy.

The development is part of the UK government’s £1.13bn Clyde Valley City Deal project.

Council leader Martin Rooney told a full council meeting last week: “It’s a fantastic deal for West Dunbartonshire and one that our council must pursue vigorously if we want to capitalise on the job opportunities our residents need.” He said the £500,000 would be committed from the council funds now in the expectation that it would be paid back by the city deal later in the year.

Concerns were raised about the scheme by councillors Jim Bollan and George Black.

Councillor Bollan said: “This whole project is highly questionable. We’re spending huge amounts of money with no guarantee the project will be agreed. The worry I’ve got with this project is that 25 risks have been identified with the project – 23 lie at the door of West Dunbartonshire Council and two lie at the door of the private sector.” Councillor Rooney replied: “This is about jobs, it’s about growth and giving the people of West Dunbartonshire a real opportunity. If we are going to do something that has the potential to bring 700 jobs we have to be ready to take risks. The best thing to do is be aware of the risks and how to mitigate them. Any big project is going to have risks. The whole point about risk management is to identify risks, understand them and mitigate and manage them.” He added: “If to decontaminate that site is going to cost x amount of million the polluter will pay for that.” Councillor Black said he had recently visited the site along with other councillors and had to don protective gear.

He said: “These people are not going to clean up their site at their cost. They are desperately trying to pass it on to us for us to clean it up at our cost.” He said residents who owned land in the area were ‘terrified’ at the thought of having it taken away through compulsory purchase orders (CPO).

Councillor Denis Agnew said CPOs had not been used in the council’s history and he thought it was ‘worrying and inflammatory’.

The council’s head of regeneration, infrastructure and economic development, Richard Cairns, said CPOs would only become it the majority of the land is purchased from Exxon and if the council and individual landowners were unable to reach an acceptable settlement through negotiation.

He added council officers planned to write to Exxon regarding heads of terms being agreed by October but they were ‘in effect in Exxon’s hands’.

Councillors agreed to spend £500,000 to develop and outline business case for the project.