Plans to bring a Sherlock Holmes visitor attraction to Portsmouth, UK, have re-emerged, with Portsmouth City Council unveiling a streamlined £7m (US$10.6m, €9.7m) version of the proposed development.

Originally unveiled as a £25m (US$37.8m, €34.5m) experience, the Holmes attraction would have included rides based on story plots from the detective's adventures and holograms of characters such as Dr Watson and Moriarty in places like Baker Street. Those plans collapsed in 2014 due to lack of funding and concerns about the project representing value for money.

The renewed plans, would offer a world-class experience in the town where Sherlock’s creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, lived.

Holmes was played by actor Basil Rathbone in the 1939 film series and more recently the role has been brought to life by Benedict Cumberbatch and Robert Downey Jr in television and film adaptations.

“The collection is important. We need to not just focus on our naval heritage, we are all about history. We can promote Conan Doyle and be the city of Conan Doyle; he lived here and had a surgery in Portsmouth. He started writing Sherlock Holmes here. We need to create a Sherlock experience,” said councillor Linda Symes.

“It’s not something that can be done overnight, we haven’t got the funding for it yet. But it would be a really great offer and opportunity to attract people who perhaps wouldn’t be drawn in by Portsmouth’s naval heritage.”