EDINBURGH COUNCIL are between a rock and a very hard place, with a nation's sporting field of dreams being shredded in the middle. The capital's financial negotiations next month will seek to carve almost £150m from the budget for the next four years. Fears have already been raised this week that plans for the city's first new primary school in more than 30 years may have to be shelved. The council's share of that would be a modest £6m.

So where does that leave the future of Meadowbank Stadium? Councillors are due to consider proposals tomorrow morning at 10am, ahead of budget discussions on February 12. Proposals indicate overall cost of a new Meadowbank facility at £41.1m. With £7m from sportscotland, plus savings while facilities are closed during construction (it runs at a loss), and income from the sale of land for housing, the council would still require to find up to £20m. Scottish Government cuts to local authority funding have exacerbated the problem. The Capital Coalition ruling group put the reduction at 7% in real terms.

I would not care to have the responsibility of prioritising between a primary school and a facility which hosted two Commonwealth Games. Never mind care of the elderly and a raft of decisions which may involve job losses among the 18,000 council staff.

However, passions around Meadowbank have already been shown to run high. Coaches and athletes are already appalled by the state of the facility, plagued by poor maintenance.

When the council revealed plans in 2006 to demolish the stadium and sell it for housing, with a new track facility at Sighthill, a "Save Meadowbank" campaign gathered 6000 signatures and hundreds marched on the City Chambers. When land values imploded during the global financial crisis, there were more delays. Yet now, it appears the only alternative to free-fall degradation and run-down is a new facility with significant upgrades, but a capacity for just 500 spectators for athletics.

This would end potential for international fixtures. While Event Scotland, who have major athletics events on their shopping list, would not comment ahead of a political decision, it is a no-brainer that a 500-capacity stadium cramps their bargaining position.

Demonstrable now are cycling. Though the velodrome where six-time Olympic champion Sir Chris Hoy was introduced to the track will disappear, provision of a cycling hub is underway at Hunter's Hall Park and is progressing well, say Scottish Cycling.

The council is spending £1.2m on an outdoor velodrome, cycle speedway and BMX tracks.

However, council leader Andrew Burns has warned ahead of tomorrow's meeting: "A reduction in revenue funding of the scale now being proposed will undoubtedly have a negative impact on a whole range of vital services."

Subject to these deliberations, and budget approval next month – no certainty given the issues – a new Meadowbank would include:

*An outdoor athletics track with seating for 500

*An indoor 60-metre six lane athletics track with jumps area

*An outdoor throws area

*A 3G synthetic pitch or grass pitch in the centre of the outdoor track

*An additional outdoor 3G synthetic pitch

*An eight badminton court sports hall with 500 permanent seats plus bleachers (same as the current Meadowbank Hall 1)

*A four-court hall with 500 permanent seats (same as the current Hall 2)

*A gymnastics hall, gym, studios, changing facilities, café, and meeting rooms.

This could all be ready by 2018. Otherwise withdrawal of Meadowbank services over the next five years will be identified.

In presenting the focus for the 2016-17 budget, summarising the capital investment programme, "a robust business case to replace the ageing Meadowbank Sports Centre" is to be presented tomorrow.

It's the council's largest sport infrastructure project for which the funding package will only be considered "on the basis that Sportscotland contributes at least £7m."

This is a far cry from the £85m option presented in late 2013. The athletics area would have had spectator capacity of 10,000 – a transparent attempt to woo Edinburgh Rugby to the arena.

Scottishathletics' facilties strategy published last November considered Meadowbank currently "meets the formal requirements but is in need of major refurbishment or replacement." They have been involved in the discussions around its future for some time. Other councils are providing better facilities – better than have ever existed in Scotland. But it is inescapable that Edinburgh council's poor stewardship has contributed to its current state.

A Labour council started the rot with anti-apartheid advertising re Zola Budd. TV pulled the plug on a major international event, consigning the stadium in the wilderness for years.

Coaches now deplore the state of the track, with earth encroaching into lane one. Saughton is an unpopular alternative because of its very hard surface and athletes are making arrangements to train as far afield as Fife.

Olympic 800m contender Lynsey Sharp dismissed Meadowbank during the Christmas break. "She needed something fit for purpose and safe to use," said her mother, Carol. "When she posted on Facebook about inadequate weights facilities, a member of the public gave access to his private gym."

They say the price of progress is what you leave behind. For generations of Scots it will be the demise of the track where Lachie Stewart defeated world record holder Ron Clarke, where Ian Stewart and Ian McCafferty bested the legendary Kip Keino.

But former fields of dreams, like Gateshead and Crystal Palace, also no longer host major internationals, and the focus of the sport in Scotland is now Glasgow's Emirates.

Presiding over whatever is decreed to be Meadowbank's fate, as chief executive of the the city, is Andrew Kerr. Ironically he is no stranger to the stadium. In his youth, he was runner-up for the Scottish 400 metres title to Roger Jenkins (1976) and Peter Hoffman (1977) on the Edinburgh track, and twice won the national junior title. He claimed a European junior bronze in the 4 x 400m relay in Moscow – a quartet which included Daley Thomson whose honours include Commonwealth decathlon gold. At Meadowbank.