PROPOSALS to bring trams back to Aberdeen are to be considered by the city council.

A strategic infrastructure plan which will be outlined to ­councillors next week includes the possibility of reintroducing some kind of tram or light rail system to the city.

The Labour-led administration is asking the Scottish Government to carry out a feasibility study into the project, but the opposition SNP group has described the proposals as pie in the sky and warned about the potential cost.

Finance convener Willie Young said the scheme could include connections from Dyce directly into Aberdeen International Airport and from the harbour through Torry to Cove.

It comes just days after the controversial tram works in ­Edinburgh city centre finally came to an end after six years of disruption.

The Aberdeen proposal is included in the authority's ­Strategic Infrastructure Plan (SIP), which is due to go before the full council next Thursday.

The report states: "As we look around the world, and Europe in particular, we see more and more successful cities of Aberdeen's size developing rapid transport systems or light rail transport systems which connect communities to major strategic sites, including universities, business parks, harbours, airports stations and city centres.

"We will start to investigate ways to maximise connectivity between new developments arising from the local development plan, including continuing discussions with Nestrans and Transport Scotland in relation to planning and funding."

Aberdeen and Grampian ­Chamber of Commerce said it was interesting to hear new ideas. The city's previous trams service stopped in 1958.

Mr Young said: "If you go back 40 years and if we had done this I don't think we would have the problems in the city that we have in terms of traffic congestion.

"All we are asking is for the Scottish Government to do a feasibility study with us to see if it can happen and how much it would cost."

Opposition SNP group leader Callum McCaig said such a survey would be expensive and time-consuming.

He said: "Trams look like an attractive proposition on paper, but in the real world they come at a prohibitive cost."

Edinburgh is due to begin running trams between the city centre and the airport from next summer.