CONTROVERSIAL Olympic rings set to be installed in Edinburgh are to be lit up at night, it has been revealed.
Games bosses hope the move will be an impressive landmark on the Capital’s skyline during the London 2012 event.
After the games, they will be replaced by the Paralympic logo on the city’s Mound.
However both installations, which will be funded by the UK Government, are yet to be granted planning permission.
Planners were forced to submit a new application to Edinburgh Council following outcry over plans to attach the Olympic Rings to the side of Edinburgh Castle.
Historic Scotland eventually vetoed the move, forcing Games chiefs to look elsewhere.
Midlothian council made an attempt to bring the logo outside the city, proposing that they be placed at a sports centre at Hillend, on the outskirts of the city.
The council Provost Adam Montgomery had written to the games chief Lord Sebastian Coe after a local Edinburgh paper ran a “Say no to Coe” campaign.
After the decision to move to rings to the Mound Edinburgh Council’s deputy leader Steve Cardownie said he was “delighted” that games bosses have backed down.
At the time he said: “I feel this site will be well received by the Edinburgh public and more than conforms to the city’s history and architecture.”
He pointed out the Mound was a focal point for celebration in Edinburgh by hosting the city’s Christmas tree.
He added: “there was a fear that if they hadn’t found an appropriate site then the Olympic organisers might have decided to go to Glasgow instead and what kind of publicity would that have been for the capital city of Scotland?”
The Olympic torch is set to pass through the city on June 13, followed by a Paralympic torch flame festival on August 26.
Further celebrations will see the city hosting a Cultural Olympiad which will include a Speed of Light race which will see runners racing around Arthur’s Seat in special “light suits”.
