Vandals have torched a former bowling club pavilion earmarked as a potential site for affordable housing in Edinburgh.
Emergency crews rushed to the former Colinton Mains bowling club site shortly after 7pm on Sunday evening following reports of a blaze.
Concerned locals reported smelling smoke from the building, with a large emergency presence including fire and police teams responding.
Officers had already been called to the derelict pavilion, located just inside Colinton Mains Park, last week amid complaints over youngsters trespassing on the site.
The site was transferred into local authority hands in 2019, with tentative plans to demolish the current pavilion, which has fallen into a state of disrepair, and build more than a dozen homes for social and mid-market rent.
A council document warns the site has become a magnet for “anti-social behaviour” but work on the housing development is yet to get underway.
Police are now treating the fire as deliberate, but said any investigation remained in the early stages.
A Police Scotland spokesperson confirmed: “We were alerted to a fire at an abandoned building next to a bowling club at around 7:15pm on Sunday evening.
“The fire is currently being treated as wilful and inquiries are ongoing.”
