EDINBURGH council's former deputy leader is embroiled in a row over his repeated support for a commercial venture promoted by his ex-business associate.

SNP councillor Steve Cardownie did not declare his friendship with lobbyist David Coutts when a plan to continue using a centuries-old church as an entertainment venue was considered by the local authority.

He also contacted Labour council leader Andrew Burns three times on the subject within 24 hours when approval of the plan was delayed.

Until recently, Cardownie was SNP group leader on the council and Burns' number two in the ruling Labour-Nationalist administration.

However, the councillor stood down from the posts earlier this month and failed to secure the succession for a political ally.

Cardownie is now facing questions over his role in a controversial proposal backed by Coutts relating to the Tron Kirk on the Royal Mile.

Coutts, a former bankrupt, was an SNP councillor in Dundee in the early 1990s before moving to Estonia to pursue business interests.

He was the license-holder of a Russian-themed bar in Edinburgh in 2004 that Cardownie helped launch, but the pub closed following a dispute with the landlord.

The councillor was a director in a firm, Grassmarket Ltd, started by Coutts, who also played a role in the councillor's defection from Labour to the SNP in 2005.

In 2006, it emerged that Coutts was one of the figures behind CJ's, a sex club in the Capital's New Town.

Coutts said at the time: "What we run, with the exception of Fridays and Saturdays, is a gay-friendly health club. On Friday and Saturdays, some members use it for private parties where consenting adults do as they wish."

He later set himself up as a political lobbyist for an outfit called Scottish Political Solutions.

In 2013, the council was faced with either extending the lease for pub entrepreneur Kenny Waugh to continue using the Tron Kirk as a Festival venue, or allowing other organisations the chance of securing the two-year lease.

The Grade A listed building had been one the main hubs for the Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival, which counted Cardownie as a board member.

The council told the Sunday Herald that Edinburgh 2013 Ltd, Coutts' firm, was the agent for Waugh and backed an extension of the lease.

A meeting of the local authority's Economy Committee, which Cardownie attended, supported the Waugh option and sent the plan to the Finance Committee.

However, after Burns and others sought a delay, Cardownie repeatedly emailed the council leader to question the reason for the hold up.

Cardownie, at that point the council's Festivals Champion, also told a local newspaper: "It would be a pity if the Tron was lost as a venue. It has been a huge success."

The proposal was referred to another committee that Cardownie sat on, at which Coutts' firm made a pitch to councillors.

The extension was approved by 9 votes to 5 and rubber stamped by a meeting of all councillors, including Cardownie.

The councillor declared his Jazz and Blues board membership, but not his friendship or past business association with Coutts.

Months later, the local authority selected Edinburgh 2014 Ltd - another firm set up by Coutts - to use the venue outwith the Festival and winter months.

Jim Orr, an Independent councillor, said he was "disappointed but not remotely surprised" by the reports.

Joanna Mowat, a Conservative councillor in Edinburgh, said: "The councillors' code of conduct makes clear the importance of public perception regarding declarations of interest. It is always best to err on the side of caution."

Cardownie denied he should have declared his links to Coutts: "I am friends with hundreds of people across the city. My understanding is that you have to declare a pecuniary interest. This wasn't one."

He added: "David has been a guest of mine at Hogmanay and at the city chambers. I've never made any secret of our friendship."

He also played down previous business links to Coutts, saying he had had no financial stake in the Russian-themed bar: "He just wanted someone to say it was a great boozer."

Asked whether he had ever been abroad with Coutts, Cardownie said: "David has been part of a party I've been abroad with."

He said he could not recall emailing Burns on the Tron Kirk issue.