Fate of Perth City Hall will not be decided this year

The city centre hall has sat empty since the city's new concert hall opened in 2005

A decision on the future of demolition-threatened Perth City Hall will not be made until February 2016.

Councillors are to meet next week to consider bids to turn the hall into a food market or a hotel, with council officials backing the food hall plan.

However a number of pre-conditions would need to be met before a draft lease could be agreed, at the authority's February meeting.

The B-listed Edwardian building has sat empty since it closed 10 years ago.

Councillors deferred a decision on which development bid to back, if any, in July, calling for further reports from Historic Scotland and other agencies and further information from the applicants.

At that stage, council officials had backed the view of independent property specialists Jones Laing LaSalle that the Perth Market Place Ltd proposal should be preferred to the hotel bid from the Seventy Group.

A report to councillors ahead of Wednesday's full council meeting noted that "there has been a change in circumstances which significantly impacts upon the Seventy Group's bid", meaning no further information could be provided.

Planning and development head David Littlejohn has asked councillors to give the marketplace proposal "preferred bidder status" to allow detailed negotiations to take place.

Should this happen, a draft lease could potentially be considered by the council in February 2016, although this would also have to be signed off by the Perth Common Good Fund Committee.

The B-listed building dates back to 1911, and Historic Scotland has opposed demolition plans

The Edwardian building, which dates back to 1911, was closed 10 years ago after a modern new concert hall was opened in the city.

Decisions over its future have been drawn out over a decade since then, with councillors at one point approving plans to have it demolished, which were subsequently blocked by Historic Scotland opposition.

The development management committee then backed the Seventy Group plans to convert it into a luxury hotel, before councillors agreed to publicly market a 125-year lease on the building to find an alternative to demolition.

Five bids were submitted in January, which where whittled down to two by July when councillors deferred the decision.

Should neither bid ultimately win approval, demolition could still be an option, although Historic Scotland chief executive Ian Walford warned he would be minded to object to such a move.

Mr Littlejohn also noted in his report that Historic Scotland had underlined that "the process cannot be allowed to perpetuate", and that a decision will have to be made.