Princes Street facelift planned

The council aims to boost the quality of shops on Princes Street

One of Scotland's most famous high streets is to undergo a massive facelift over the next decade in a bid to reverse its declining fortunes.

City of Edinburgh Council said drastic action was needed to improve the image of Princes Street.

The world-famous thoroughfare has fallen to 25th in the UK's retail league amid concerns about a decline in the quality of its shops.

The council said locals would be consulted on the proposals.

It hopes to eventually transform the whole street with more public spaces, restaurants, hotels and more arcades linking through to Rose Street.

There is a lot of under-utilised space and there are some retail offerings which are perhaps not what you would expect from a street that has an international name Jenny Dawe City of Edinburgh Council Leader

However the council, which does not own any of the buildings involved in the plan, admitted it could be difficult to persuade all the different landlords to come on board.

It plans to tackle Princes Street one block at a time in a so-called "string of pearls" approach which has already seen Edinburgh's St James Centre and St Andrews Square being redeveloped.

A study by the local authority has shown that 60% of the upper floors of shops in some blocks are empty, with one building constructed in the 1960s never having been occupied above ground level.

Council leader Jenny Dawe said it was vital that empty upper floor premises and the space behind Princes Street was put to better use.

'Long-term vision'

"We know from surveys that have been done that Princes Street could be doing much better than it currently is," she said.

"There is a lot of under-utilised space and there are some retail offerings which are perhaps not what you would expect from a street that has an international name."

City centre development director Jonathan Guthrie said he was confident some high-quality developments would be coming to the fore over the next decade.

"Because of this long-term vision and this big-picture view of the future the outcome will be well worth it and we will have a city centre we can all be proud of," he added.

"It will work in all its component parts whether that be mixed use, retail schemes, public space, public transport and all the other elements that make a city centre a very vibrant and exciting place."