Scotland’s arts agency has rejected restoration plans for one of Edinburgh’s most celebrated concert venues.

The Queen's Hall had been hoping to win backing for multi-million-pound plans to overhaul its main auditorium and create a new 125-seater venue.

But the £8.5m plans were rejected by Creative Scotland in favour of a new statue of William Wallace in Stirling, the new Star Of Caledonia art project in the Borders and a sculpture commemorating Fife's mining heritage.

Creative Scotland chief executive Andrew Dixon said the quality of the festivals and events staged in Edinburgh was not matched by the its cultural infrastructure.

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The agency criticised the city council for not getting behind the Queen's Hall project.

The council insists it is unable to put money into a building it doesn't own. It also pointed out the Queen's Hall plans were developed following a city-wide study of arts and cultural venues it commissioned.

Roderick Wylie, chairman of the Queen's Hall, said: "We are disappointed by the outcome of our application to Creative Scotland's capital investment programme.

"We will now take some time to reflect upon their feedback and seek discussions with key stakeholders on what the next steps might be to realise the refurbishment of this much-loved Edinburgh venue."

A Creative Scotland spokeswoman said: "The recent round of capital investment was highly competitive and there were at least 20 other projects that were unsuccessful.

"Our next round of large capital investment will open for applications in the spring of 2013 and the Queen's Hall could potentially reapply then."

(IT/GK)