A £23.5MILLION plan to build hundreds of homes to rent and buy in Inverclyde has been given the green light.

The project, which will result in 636 houses and create hundreds of jobs, is billed as the biggest social housing development in the area for almost 40 years.

River Clyde Homes, Scotland's third largest social landlord, will build 140 homes in Greenock and 496 in Port Glasgow - 208 of them for sale.

The money came from the Scottish Government's affordable housing investment programme.

Planning chairman David Wilson said "This is great news for Inverclyde and will lead to affordable housing for hundreds of people and families."

The largest development is at Woodhall/Broadfield in Port Glasgow, where 400 homes will be built along with shops and a community hall.

Mr Wilson said: "These applications justify the housing stock transfer to River Clyde Homes in December 2007.

"I felt immensely proud last August as the planning board passed applications for five new schools in Inverclyde and building progress can be seen throughout our towns."

Karen Neary, chief executive of River Clyde Homes, said: "I would like to thank all those tenants and residents who have had a massive input to the design process.

"This is the biggest social housing project in Inverclyde since the mid-1970s and will be one of the biggest developments in Scotland at this time."

Robert Moran, convener of the council's safe sustainable communities committee, said: "This is excellent news for the public sector, coming at a time of real economic uncertainty around the world.

"The funding will provide jobs in the short term alongside those already being created through our schools building programme and Riverside Inverclyde's regeneration projects.

"We anticipate private builders and tradesmen getting involved in the work and we are taking advice on building into contracts a requirement to take on local labour."