Proposals to rebuild a historic bandstand in Edinburgh are due to go before councillors next week, it has been announced.

Initial plans to renew Edinburgh's West Princes Street Gardens will be discussed on Tuesday, 12 April.

Proposals include a new Ross Bandstand, the restoration of the city's 140 year-old Ross Fountain, landscaping and new visitor facilities.

The project has been developed by city hotelier Norman Springford, who has offered to be a major benefactor for the project, in partnership with the City of Edinburgh Council.

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At the meeting, councillors will be asked to consider the legal and technical landscape as well as the schemes feasibility. If approved, a further report detailing the project's stages, decision points and timescales would be published for full consideration in June.

Council Leader Andrew Burns said: "Connecting the Old and New Town halves of our UNESCO World Heritage Site and in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle, West Princes Street Gardens offers one of Scotland’s most beautiful and iconic locations.

"It has been a long held ambition of the Council to create a new facility as part of major renewal of the Gardens but is not, in the current financial climate, a project we could undertake alone.

"There are a lot of considerations, from the fact the area is Common Good land to the implications of building in public parks, and so there is still much work to be done."

Norman Springford added: "Whilst it has been a personal ambition to see redevelopment, the opportunity for this to become a reality arises from a real spirit of public/private co-operation."

(LM)