Partisan political battles within Edinburgh City Council over land use and planning permission could see the Edinburgh Zoo move to Glasgow.

Following a decision by the council not to allow the zoo’s operators, the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, to sell off a portion of land to developers, the Edinburgh Zoo’s proposed £72 million refurbishment has been put on hold.

Zoo bosses are now considering sites in Glasgow and across the west coast for new investment.

The debate springs from a planning dispute over the use of land owned by the Royal Zoological Society on Costorphine Hill, next to the current site of the Edinburgh Zoo. As part of the attraction’s multi-million pound refit, the land was intended to be sold as a site on which 100 homes could be built, generating some £15-20 million.

However, in November, planning permission for the housing development was denied, decimating the value of the zoo’s land and casting its future into doubt.

Without the funding from the land sale, the redevelopment plans are on hold. Gary Wilson, head of property and estates, told The Scotsman: “There are things we can't fundraise for. Who wants to give money for drainage? It's not sexy."

Concerns were raised regarding the development by local residents and environmental campaigners, who objected to the congestion the new homes would cause in the area.

Eddie Price, speaking for activist group Friends of Costorphine Hill, said: “There's no way we can take any more traffic. Instead of building houses they need to be building a car park. I've been down in the summer months and you can't move for parked cars. Emergency services can't get along Corstorphine Road.”

While the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland denies there are any firm plans to move to Glasgow, David Windmill, its chief executive, has admitted that plans have been put together for every eventuality.

He said: “We have been investigating having an animal visitor attraction on the west coast and are currently undertaking a feasibility study with South Lanarkshire Council."

Glasgow’s only zoo, at Granton Park, closed in 2004.