A flagship £45m concert hall planned for Edinburgh has been thrown into doubt as developers explore alternative sites.

Impact Scotland secured planning permission from Edinburgh City Council for the Dunard Centre, to be built behind the RBS building at St Andrew Square in April.

But the 1000-capacity concert hall, earmarked to become the new home of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, is subject to a judicial review being brought by the developers of the next-door St James shopping centre against the council.

With the legal hold-ups, which could take years, Impact Scotland is now believed to be seeking a new site for the concert hall, which was initially due to open in 2023.

The council has asked for mediation in an effort to settle the legal challenge, but said it cannot comment on ongoing legal proceedings.

A spokeswoman for Impact Scotland, said: "We very much hope that a way forward can be reached to allow us to start construction of the Dunard Centre.

"We are facing a difficult, indeterminate delay to the project following the neighbouring St James' shopping and hotel centre developers petitioning the courts for a judicial review of the council's planning processes - this has led us to temporarily pause work on the project.

"It makes sense during this period that we consider all options available to us as our overriding goal is to find a way forward to begin construction of the Dunard Centre and create Edinburgh's first purpose-built performance venue in over 100 years."

The St James Centre bosses lodged the judicial review bid in the summer, believing the council has breached a strict skyline policy for the city centre in approving the project.

Story by local democracy reporter David Bol