The property company controlled by former Rangers FC owner Sir David Murray is seeking to develop greenbelt land on the outskirts of Edinburgh.
Murray Estates said planning controls need to be relaxed in order to allow for population and housing growth. The company has been lobbying members of the city council to back its application for a new 600-acre "garden district" between the business park at the Gyle and Heriot-Watt University.
It is hoped to build 3500 new homes, a large park and garden visitor attraction, and a sports and leisure hub. Reports have suggested the investment amounts to around £1 billion.
Jestyn Davies, managing director of Murray Estates, said: "Edinburgh has chosen growth, and over the next 20 years Edinburgh will have many tough decisions to make. I do not envy the dilemma faced by councillors and the Scottish Government, however everybody now accepts the debate is about which parts of the greenbelt should accommodate new housing, not whether the greenbelt should be designated for housing.
"I strongly believe west Edinburgh is the best location to help Edinburgh and the south-east of Scotland meet its housing requirements, utilising the transport routes already in place and providing a sustainable development that will further enhance Edinburgh as one of the best places in the world to live and work."
Sir David bought the land in 1989, and it has since had an extension to the M8 built through it.
The sports village would have an athletics stadium for 25,000 spectators, with space for leisure facilities with earlier suggestions that it could be the base for a national curling academy.
There is a suggestion it could be the base for a national curling academy.
Family homes are central to the development with a pledge to make one quarter of them affordable to ordinary workers. Sustainable energy sources plus good public transport links are key to the project.
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