'Upgrading Edinburgh city centre should be top priority for tourist tax money' says business boss

He said revamps of the key city centre streets had been discussed for years. "Now there's money on the table - they need to get on with it."

Mr Smith, chief executive of Essential Edinburgh, which runs the city centre Business Improvement District, said: "There's no excuse now because there is a pot of money there to do it."

He has described the city-centre business community as "a critical friend" over the Visitor Levy, holding the council to account for how it spends the money.

The levy - the first in the UK - came into effect on Friday, July 24. Visitors now have to pay a five per cent fee on the price of overnight accommodation, including hotels, B&Bs and self-catering, for the first five nights of any stay.

The new levy is expected to raise up to £50 million a year by 2029, which will be spent on a wide range of initiatives benefiting visitors and residents, from extra street cleaning and more public toilets to affordable housing and a new city-centre policing unit.

Mr Smith said: "The priorities for us are making the place look a lot cleaner than it currently is, it being a lot more secure and I'm very keen on the spend on the large public realm problems we have in the city centre. If those things are done and visitors and residents can see a noticeable difference then it will have done its job.

"The public realm in the city centre is in a very poor state - there have been lots of plans, lots of consultation, lots of work done over a long period of time. It's time for the talking to stop and some action to be taken. And with the Visitor Levy, there is money that I would hope can be put forward in some sort of public private partnership to start making things happen."

A revamp of George Street - banning general traffic for most of the day, making it a pedestrian and cycle zone, widening pavements and installing trees, planters and benches - was in line to be funded by the Visitor Levy. But councillors voted to pause the plans and incorporate them into a wider project including Princes Street and other parts of the city centre.

Mr Smith said combining George Street with Princes Street, Rose Street, Frederick Street and Hanover Street in a wider city centre approach was "sensible".

But he said: "Plans need to be agreed quickly and stuff needs to happen sooner rather than later. We've been at this discussion for a very long time. And I think now there is some Visitor Levy money on the table, they need to get on with it."

A summit on the future of Princes Street was held recently after a council masterplan for the area was rejected as lacking vision. A report on the summit is due to be made public in September.

But Mr Smith said: "Whatever they decide to do is going to need resources and Visitor Levy is now there. They just need to get on and do it. The discussion has been going on for years. There's no excuse now because there is a pot of money there to do it.”

Transport convener Stephen Jenkinson said the Visitor Levy gave the city a “fantastic opportunity to invest in public realm in the city centre and elsewhere”.

He said: “Currently what we are doing is working up a suite of proposals for public realm enhancement and investment in the city centre and later on this year I’m expecting proposals back for a programme of works which will include George Street, Princes Street and so on, which are likely to secure Visitor Levy funding to enable them to be delivered.”

He said he expected the programme would include multiple individual projects at different stages of development. “Some will be ready to go and some will not, but the Visitor Levy gives us the flexibility and the injection of capital to make these projects a reality.”

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