Perth City Hall food market plan approved by council

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

Perth and Kinross councillors have backed a plan to turn Perth City Hall into a food market.

A full meeting of Perth and Kinross Council considered bids to turn the hall into a food market or a hotel, with officials backing the market plan.

Councillors agreed to give Perth Market Place Ltd "preferred bidder status", and detailed negotiations over the building's lease will now begin.

A draft lease could go back before councillors in February 2016.

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

The drawn-out process of deciding its fate has seen a demolition bid blocked by Historic Scotland, and initial backing for a plan to transform it into a luxury hotel.

Councillors had agreed to market a 125-year lease for the building in a final bid to settle whether an alternative use could be found for the building, which dates back to 1911.

However, in July they deferred a decision on whether the hotel plan submitted by the Seventy Group or the marketplace proposal were suitable for the site.

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

Independent property firm Jones Laing LaSalle backed the market bid, while council officers warned of a "change in circumstances which significantly impacts upon the Seventy Group bid", which once won initial planning permission.

If the negotiations over the lease fail, the demolition plans could return to the agenda, although Historic Scotland chief executive Ian Walford has warned he would be minded to object to such a move.

In his report to councillors ahead of the meeting, planning and development head David Littlejohn noted that "the process cannot be allowed to perpetuate".

The draft lease likely to be considered by councillors next year will also need to be signed off by the Perth Common Good Fund Committee.