Council bosses in Dundee are under pressure from local residents and business leaders to bring back official Hogmanay celebrations in the city.

More than 2700 people have signed an online petition while retailers have lent their support to the idea.

But it has been dismissed by Dundee City Council chiefs - who say it is "not high on the council's priorities".

The petition on social networking site Facebook by local man Dylan Drummond has, since being launched last week, attracted 2780 signatures calling for the reintroduction of an official New Year’s Eve celebration from 2010.

Mr Drummond and his followers want a street party to rival the likes of Edinburgh, Glasgow and Stirling.

He said: "I believe you could make an economic case for having a Hogmanay party because it would bring people to the city and make it a more attractive destination."

City Centre Action Group chairman David Doig has backed Mr Drummond, saying, "Businesses would support a Hogmanay street party. All the other big cities have something. There’s definitely something missing in Dundee. People do tend to leave Dundee at New Year and go to other cities because there’s nothing going on.

"Some sort of party would retain the people of Dundee and keep their trade in the city while attracting other customers from outwith the city."

However, Dundee Lord Provost John Letford added his voice to the council’s opposition, pointing to lack of demand.

He said: "I know that the police have expressed some concerns in the past over the possibility of such a party. We have huge pressures to face as a council. We are making a concerted effort to deal with the challenges facing us.

"There are big financial difficulties facing the council and people mostly would rather we address them than pay out for another party."

Mr Guild had also stated that the logistics of putting on a community street party would be very difficult unless bus companies were willing to lay on special late night services.

A spokeswoman for Travel Dundee said: "We have done something like this in the past but it has not really paid off with the amount of money we had to pay for drivers to work those hours and then with the problems of people drinking and the clean-up it’s not worth it."