Fears have been raised that the plans to save Perth City Hall could simply lead to further delay and waste taxpayers’ money.
Perth and Kinross Council leader Ian Miller has urged the developers behind bids to convert the listed Edwardian hall into an up-market food hall or five-star hotel to prove their finances.
The first plan has previously been rejected, while the latter is an 11th-hour challenger, having played no part in a year-long bidding process.
Each developer is adamant that it can secure a future for the listed building and that, given time, it will prove the financial and business viability of its scheme.
The council is, nonetheless, pressing ahead with its bid to secure consent from Historic Scotland to demolish the building.
At the weekend, almost 1,000 people pledged to oppose that move by accepting letters of objection from the Perth City Market Trust (PCMT).
Mr Miller, however, reiterated that the council had “tried and failed” to find a sustainable and economically-viable use for the hall and had unanimously decided to seek consent for demolition on that basis.
More than £100,000 has been spent on the building’s maintenance since its closure.
“We have always been open to a viable reuse of the building that does not require public funding,” Mr Miller said.
“This latest application by the Seventy Group to reuse Perth City Hall as a hotel is, however, made after a period of exhaustive marketing, during which the developer neither approached us with their proposals nor took part in the bidding process, which involved close scrutiny of the financial viability and funding of the proposals.
“While keeping an open mind, my concern is that this may be yet another perhaps well-meant but unviable plan that will simply lead to further delay and waste of taxpayers’ money.”
Mr Miller said the developer would have to demonstrate that the building can be converted and generate a profit and that its long-term economic impact will be greater than the alternative uses indicated by “independent, in-depth research”.
The Seventy Group has said that it is in talks with senior council officials, while the PCMT is working again to persuade the council that it can make its vision a reality.