THE cycle track that inspired Sir Chris Hoy to become Britain's most successful Olympian is to be sold for housing.
However Edinburgh City Council said that even with the sale of the track at the east side of Meadowbank Stadium a move to demolish and rebuild the famous sports hub is still at least £11.3 million short of its £43m target.
Councillors are expected to consider the sale of the outdoor track section of the site where Sir Chris honed his skills and ask for £100,000 to look at ways of meeting the shortfall and examine the land sale process.
The future of Meadowbank Sports Centre and Stadium will be considered next week as part of its budget plan and councillors will debate the move next week.
At one stage Sir Chris said he owed his success to the track saying it wouldn't have reached Olympian heights "if Meadowbank Velodrome did not exist in the first place".
The council said as the venue heads towards its 50th birthday, an update on potential costs and scoping for a replacement is revealed.
A funding proposal and architectural concept work for replacing Meadowbank, which was originally built for Edinburgh's 1970 Commonwealth Games, have been developed with input from relevant governing bodies of sport.
The council said the plans would see the existing site transformed into a brand new sports centre with community facilities for physical activity, health and wellbeing.
The funding proposals project the overall cost of building a new Meadowbank facility as £43m.
It is envisaged that this will be achieved through funding from SportScotland of between £5m to £7m; revenue savings to the Council from closing the facilities during construction; prudential borrowing based on forecasts for net income and through the sale the land.
This would leave funding required to be identified by the council as between £11.3m and £19.8m.
Should future funding structures be agreed by the council in February, new facilities could include a replacement outdoor athletics track with seating for 500, an additional indoor 60m six lane athletics track with jumps area and an outdoor throws area and a state-of-the-art 3G synthetic sports pitch or grass pitch in the centre of the outdoor athletics track for football, rugby and other pitch sports.
Plans for a new cycle track at Hunters Hall in the city are under way but there will be no track at Meadowbank.
Richard Lewis, Culture and Sport Convener for the City of Edinburgh Council, said: "Meadowbank has nurtured grassroots and professional sport for almost 50 years now, and it feels right that after Scotland's successful Commonwealth Games 2014, we kick off 2015 by considering the future of the country's very first Games venue.
"The project is still in the development phase and before progressing further, a decision from Council is required as to whether it can meet the £11.3mm to £19.8m funding shortfall currently projected.
"Over half a million* users visit Meadowbank every year and it is a much-loved city sports facility, but we will need to consider how we can source funding for a project of this scale given the financial pressures the Council faces.
"If agreed by the Corporate Policy and Strategy Committee, the future of Meadowbank will form part of the council's budget considerations for the next financial year."
Should these current plans be agreed, and funding secured, the new Meadowbank could be ready by 2018. If the decision is taken not to proceed, a planned withdrawal of service at Meadowbank will be required over the forthcoming five years.
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