Controversial plans to charge for music tuition in Edinburgh to save more than £1.5m have been scrapped.

Edinburgh City Council officials had tabled proposals to start charging for instrumental music tuition as part of swingeing budget cuts.

The plans, which were due to come into force next year to save £1.66m by 2020, failed to gain support from councillors.

More than 10,000 people, including Scots violinist Nicola Benedetti, signed a petition against the plan, which would have also impacted on school orchestras.

In a mid-year review of the 2016-2019 budget, senior financial officer Hugh Dunn said staff had considered a "wide range" of options for music tuition but it was not possible to "strike the required balance".

Cathy Fullerton, vice-convener of the city's education, children and families committee, said: "Some local authorities already charge for their music tuition but this has led to a decline in the number of pupils taking up an instrument.

"We know from experience that children who study music increase their reading skills and vocabularies and those with learning disabilities and dyslexia improve their focus and concentration - research is available to support these assumptions.

"Schools with music programmes have higher attendance and graduation rates compared to those without music education, so I hope you will agree it's worth the investment."

Ms Fullerton, who represents Sighthill/Gorgie - the area with the highest level of child poverty in Edinburgh - added funding free music tuition would give pupils of all backgrounds the chance to learn an instrument.

Other cuts will now be considered to balance the books following the tuition decision.

The council has already made £160m of savings since the start of its term in 2012, while a "transformation programme" to trim back parts of the organisation is ongoing.

Finance convener Alasdair Rankin said: "I think it's quite an achievement and it's something that this administration can be fairly proud of."

He said the transformation project - which aims to save £148m over the next four years - would create a "leaner" council and protect frontline workers.

Around 1000 people in full-time equivalent roles have left the council in the past year, with around 700 of these taking voluntary redundancy or early release.

The remainder of that figure relates to staff leaving for other reasons and not being replaced under the restructure.

The local authority originally anticipated that as many as 2000 jobs could be cut but the final number is now expected to be between 1400 and 1600.