Calls to transform a well-known Leith landmark into a new museum exploring the city's links to slavery, the persecution of witches and the exploitation of children have been criticised by a local campaigner.
Local heritage watchdog, the Cockburn Association, this week suggested turning Custom House in Commercial Street into a museum dedicated to those who have suffered oppression down the centuries - including those affected by the slave trade.
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The calls were made in a response to the City of Edinburgh Council's slavery and colonialism review group, which recently held a consultation asking Edinburgh residents to air their views on what changes should be made in the city.
The review group, led by Professor Sir Geoff Palmer, was set up following the advent of the international Black Lives Matter movement, which has prompted a widespread re-evaluation of statues, street names and civic buildings that have connections to the transatlantic slave trade.
In Edinburgh, the Custom House, which operated as a tax and excise office for ships coming in from the far flung corners of the British Empire before the abolition of slavery in 1833, was named along with a host of other public buildings.
However, the proposal to open a museum to slavery and oppression at Leith landmark has been slammed by a campaigner who says finding funding for such a project would be "a slap in the face".
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In 2013, Edinburgh-based tour guide, Fraser Parkinson, was part of a campaign group calling for the creation of a Maritime Museum or a Museum for Leith at the Custom House site.
The group, which included lifelong Leithers Frank Ferri and Graham Whyte, as well as Ruth McAdam, a descendent of the founder of Leith's Henry Robb shipyard in the early 1900s, campaigned hard to make their vision a reality, but were ultimately told that the funding required to make Custom House suitable did not exist.
Custom House is owned by the City of Edinburgh Council, however, the lease is currently with the Scottish Historic Buildings Trust so that potential funding can be sourced for future developments.
Based on information he received while campaigning for the Museum for Leith, Mr Parkinson understands the cost of upgrading and developing a museum at Custom House could now be as much as £15 million.
Mr Parkinson stresses that he would not be opposed to the inception of a museum to slavery, as suggested by the Cockburn Association, and says he would prefer such a museum to be opened at an alternative location other than Custom House.
Fraser Parkinson, who also runs the Spirit of Leithers page on Facebook, said: "It is interesting that the Cockburn Association can make such a formal proposal with what appears to be no background knowledge of the building, its drawbacks or the funding that is required to redevelop this huge building into the type of centre it is proposing.
"There appears to be a degree of opportunism in this unthought out proposal. If Custom House is to be developed into a museum or centre it should be first and foremost a centre for Maritime history and a Museum for Leith."
In their report, issued on January 19 - the day the City of Edinburgh Council's slavery review group consultation ended - the Cockburn Association said Custom House could serve as the perfect hub for the "forgotten and hidden" histories of those who suffered oppression in colonial times.
Mr Parkinson says there are other places in the city that, in his opinion, would be far more suitable for the venture.
He added: "The most appropriate location for a museum exploring Edinburgh's historic links with slavery, colonialism, the persecution of witches and child exploitation is without doubt St Andrew Square under the shadow of Henry Dundas.
"This would provide a central location and a strong statement from this city of its abhorrence towards slavery and colonialism."
Edinburgh Live has approached the Cockburn Association for comment.
