The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Glasgow Mario Conti has offered his full support to proposals to preserve a former seminary and museum in the suburbs of Aberdeen.

Developers want to take over the site at Blairs College to build a £115m hotel, housing a leisure complex.

Archbishop Conti, who is a former pupil of the college, has urged the local community to help preserve the history of the site.

He is supporting a move by the Muir Group, who say they want to preserve the chapel and museum from closure.

The local community has been urged to support the plans by the Archbishop, who says that jobs could be created should they get the go-ahead.

The site operated as a seminary school for more than 150 years, from 1829 to 1986 when it was closed due to declining student numbers. Since then the buildings have fallen into a state of disrepair and are in desperate need of renovation.

Archbishop Conti said: "As a former pupil of Blairs College I was sad to see the college close in 1986. I would urge all those both within the church and in the wider community to support this development project and ensure that Blairs has a long-term future in Aberdeenshire."

The Chairman of Muir Group said: "Aberdeenshire and the wider north east of Scotland cannot afford to lose Blairs.

"There is too much history wrapped up in the estate and wonderful treasures available for the public to view at the museum."