A decision on the future of Leith's historic Custom House has been delayed by Edinburgh City Council until after the local elections.
Additional public consultation on the project will go ahead before plans are finalised later this year, in a last minute move by officers.
Councillors were set to agree on repurposing the A-listed building as a community and creative hub at the final Culture and Communities Committee on Tuesday (April 26), however the report was pulled at the start of the meeting.
READ MORE: Edinburgh's Bourbon nightclub warned after police flag "alcohol-fuelled violent crime"
The initial proposals to turn it into a museum charting Leith's history, set out when the council purchased the 19th century building from the National Museum of Scotland in 2014, have now been deemed financially unsustainable.
News of this sparked a "degree of disquiet" in the community, the council's Executive Director of Place Paul Lawrence told councillors.
He said: "It's not our intention to bring forward matters of significant public controversy during the election period."
Mr Lawrence said the council "didn't think that was the case" with the future of Custom House, but added that the reaction from the community suggested otherwise.
Correspondence to councillors indicated "a need for some further consultation", he said, adding that the Scottish Historic Buildings Trust (SHBT), which is leading the regeneration project, will "consider the matter further".
"We think it would be better to defer this report and bring it back to an early committee of the new administration for both some further public engagement and so we can reflect the decision of the historic preservation trust for members to see," Mr Lawrence said.
Councillors were due to vote on proceeding with a £15 million 'mixed use' facility comprising studios for artists, heritage displays, spaces for community events, a café and retail units.
Plans state: "The ultimate vision for Custom House, Leith, is the creation of a vibrant cultural and community venue within this iconic heritage asset for the people of Leith and beyond.
"A place for everyone to enjoy, create and learn, to tell stories, engage with the past and develop their future. Key, therefore, to a sustainable future for the building is the identification of a mix of uses which will provide much needed community facilities as well as commercial income generating potential, allowing the building to become both self-sustaining and a well-used asset for the community for many years to come."
Edinburgh Council said an estimated £9,227,000 is available for the project, with a shortfall of nearly £6m, bringing significant financial risk.
A 'phased approach' to the works would reduce the funding gap to a more manageable £659,028, a feasibility study by SHBT concluded.
For the past seven years since taking over, SHBT has let out rooms as office and studio space - and it is proposed this should continue into the future to generate income for maintenance and upkeep of the 205 year-old structure.
But this is a far cry from the intended use of the building at the time it was purcahsed for £650k by the local authority's common good fund ; a letter signed by local councillors Adam McVey (SNP), Gordon Munro (Labour) and Chas Booth (Greens) in 2014 stated the three were "united in our cross-party support to turn Custom House into a new museum for Leith".
Furthermore, the original development criteria was to "secure appropriate use of the building to include a museum/heritage purpose for the benefit of Leith and the wider city and to negotiate with third parties accordingly".
However, the council has now said single use of the building as a museum would be "extremely challenging to achieve" as "significant third-party subsidy" would be needed to fund the project, the council said.
It added: "The Council has confirmed it is not in a position to develop or operate another single use museum of a scale of the entire Custom House building."
Cllr Chas Booth said this week he "absolutely accepts" the challenges involved with establishing a heritage museum in Custom House but said further consultation with the community is "essential" before a final decision is made.
He added: "I suppose my real concern is that this building belongs to the people of Leith now, it's not the council, it's the common good fund that owns it and therefore that is the people of Leith - and the people of Leith need to be able to be happy with the long-term use for it.
"The recommendation to come out is not for a full-blown museum of Leith, and obviously that will concern some local people. I think it's really important that if we are to proceed with a use for this building that is not a museum for Leith that local people have buy-in to that process, that they understand the reasons that have been given for that and that they feel they have had a chance to have their say."
He said he was "a wee bit disappointed that the end of this process seems to be so rushed".
Prior to the report being pulled from the committee's agenda, Cllr Booth submitted an amendment calling for further community engagement on the future of Custom House.
And after it emerged the decision had been deferred by the council, he asked: "Could you just clarify, will there be an opportunity to go to public consultation on this before it comes back to committee?"
Mr Lawrence said officers would be "happy to do so".
