With thanks to Dave Macdermid.
This year’s Friends of Duthie Park AGM will be held within the sunken area of the Winter Gardens on Tuesday 5th March at 7 pm.
Included in the event will be an update on the restoration work being undertaken in the park which is scheduled for completion shortly.
Members and non members are welcome to attend.
Voice’s Old Susannah takes a look over the past week’s events in the ‘Deen and beyond. By Suzanne Kelly.
Another busy week in Aberdeen passed in a flurry of activity, culminating in the excellent BrewDog party celebrating the new factory opening. Live band Little Kicks were great, and so were the BrewDog crew.
A team assigned to the outdoor barbeque were positively heroic; hundreds were fed delicious food irrespective of the raging snow. A good time was had by all.
In the news this week are several stories involving common sense. Firstly, the elegant, ladylike, cerebral polymath Helen Flanagan, celebrated Coronation Street actress and model, told the press she is unhappy at being thought of as being a brainless, big-breasted airhead.
She has illustrated her intelligence and sensitivity with acts such as posing with a gun to her head days after a US gun spree left dozens dead.
Also supporting the view of her as an intellectual, the article in which she claims to be a misunderstood genius is accompanied by a photo of her half-dressed. Brains, and talent, too.
Like most of us, I’ve been watching the ACSEF website with great anticipation for the the latest meeting minutes just as eagerly as I wait for the next episode of Coronation Street. I’m sure that when I last looked about a fortnight ago, there were only the June 2012 minutes out. But to my great joy and excitement, I see that the September AND October Minutes are out! Result!
These minutes, recently added to the hallowed ACSEF website, serve as a reminder to our elected officials to not step out of line. It is important they understand power structures and their place in the system.
ACSEF is, quite rightly, calling Barney Crocket to in effect ‘explain to the class’ how it will be possible to renew our city centre if we don’t turn our only green space into a concrete – sorry granite-clad concrete – web. He and Gordon McIntosh must do so at the December ACSEF board meeting.
Just to clarify, Barney is the leader of the duly-elected majority in local government, and ACSEF are quango hangers-on, some from self-promoting business backgrounds and others from yet more quangos, paid for by city and shire taxpayers. I guess Barney better learn his place. This is what the minutes said (but no doubt you’ll rush off to read them, too):
“Councillor Crockett… confirmed Aberdeen City Council’s alignment with the ACSEF Action Plan and vision [what is that?], but highlighted the need for the ACSEF Board to take account of the City Garden Project decision.
“The Board questioned how the desired outcome of regenerating and improving the attractiveness of the city centre, which the City Garden Project had sought to deliver, might be achieved without this and other key linked projects.
“The critical importance of anchoring the oil and gas supply chain in the area for the long term and role city centre regeneration could play to support this was stressed. It was suggested and agreed that a presentation and paper be provided to the December Board meeting outlining how the City Council planned to address the aim of city centre regeneration.”
I am very pleased our elected representative has to explain to ACSEF, including Stewart Milne, why Milne won’t be getting the web he relies on to make his beautiful glass box Triple Kirks offices a huge success (with parking). I might not be clever enough to be able to see how a granite web will anchor the oil business here (where it needs to be logistically anyway) – perhaps I should ask Helen Flanagan to explain?
Elsewhere the minutes show that ACSEF plans to dictate policy to the city and shire councils whether on housing or education. We can all sleep easily.
By the way, I’d actually love to stop writing about the web, or The Thing That Wouldn’t Die as it is more affectionately known.
Trouble is, the Press and Journal, and the other ugly sister, the Evening Express, won’t let me. They are going to try to print an article every other day forever on why the web will fix the problem of the changing face of retail. And all it will cost us is our Common Good land, fresh air, environment and our only city centre free recreation ground.
Yes, people around the world will stop going to visit Niagara Falls, the Taj Mahal and the Louvre and come instead to Aberdeen’s web, where they can shop in brand new, multinational shops. It is always a joy to see those acid-pastel coloured fantasy web sketches showing floating giant children over flowerbeds in a landscape free from any litter, graffiti or crime.
Makes my day. Keep running those beautiful photos and comments from leading businessmen, and I’ll keep praising them as they deserve. Today, it’s Mr Koot’s turn to be singled out for my admiration).
Multi-tasking: (modern English gerund) ability to competently do several things simultaneously.
You really have to hand it to Mr Koot, Taqa company’s supremo in Aberdeen. He’s found the time to tell the P&J this week how embarrassed he is by our city centre, and how the granite web is the answer to all our prayers. He told us this a few times now, but somehow it’s still newsworthy.
I conclude he must be a socio-economic whizz able to predict future marketing trends, concluding that internet retail is not the way to go, and shop-building is where it will be at. I am grateful, as we all are, for his relevant input into the web debate (even if some of us wish it would finally just go away).
He even generously wrote to his employees at the time of the referendum, telling them in a nice paternal way to vote for the web. Some people might equate getting an email telling them how to vote as taking serious liberties, coercion, intimidation, and using employment as a platform for propaganda.
I’m certain, however, he had nothing but the employee’s democratic rights and best interests at heart. This is what he wrote to staff in February before the vote:
“From a business point of view, this project is very important to economic and employment prospects in Aberdeen. It will help attract new energy industries and new companies to the City, and will provide a new city heart with significant garden, recreation and cultural amenities, with no additional cost to the Council Tax payer.”
Wow – you get something worth £140 million for free! Why didn’t we do that again? Not only does he have the time to analyse what’s wrong with Aberdeen and tell people who depend on him for their livelihoods how to vote, he successfully runs Taqa, the Abu Dhabi oil firm.
Why do promotional web articles keep appearing with giant photos in my Press and Journal?
I guess anyone can drop the ball. As you might have noted in the news, Taqa had a wee problem this week when hydrocarbons escaping from one of its platforms in the North Sea caused an evacuation and a shut-down of the North Sea Brent pipelines. This was rather large in the news from 13-15 January.
Still, this talented master of multi-tasking found time to run the oil firm and campaign strenuously for the granite web since at least 2010. In fact, less than one week after the financially disastrous Taqa North Sea incident, Koot still found time to get into the P&J to say how embarrassed he was by our city centre, and the web was the answer. I guess you have to decide where your priorities lie – a huge North Sea oil problem and its aftermath, or the web.
Taqa is sending Koot to Iraq.
Just one more thing: you could ask yourself: “Why do promotional web articles keep appearing with giant photos in my P&J?” Is there perhaps a public relations agency, toiling away with no thought of monetary reward but interested in getting a web built?
Is there a PR agency writing these releases getting paid from somewhere, perhaps the unelected group Vote for the City Gardens Project (aka Stewart Milne and mates)?
I personally hope we find out that ACSEF is paying for all this, using our taxpayer money where it will do the most good. Perhaps we should ask our elected officials to look into this? We could ask ACSEF, of course. I’m sure they’ll be happy to clarify.
Gross misconduct: (Eng. compound noun, legal) severe negligence in the course of one’s given duties.
We have seen in our area nurses struck off for drug offences, abusing patients, stealing, even having inappropriate relationships with psychiatric patients. Two stories of nurses were in this week’s local papers. One was a nurse who found a child wandering around, presumably after being left alone in a car.
Details are unclear; she should have called the police and stayed with the child it seems. She did, however, ensure the child’s safety.
Elsewhere, a convicted wife killer, suspected of also killing his first wife is fighting for his nursing license (should he ever get out of jail). Proven to be a mercenary, cold-blooded killer and pathological liar, he thinks he should be allowed to continue in the caring profession.
One of these has been struck off permanently; one will have some form of hearing from the Royal College of Nursing.
The Nursing body wants to remind everyone how seriously it takes striking a nurse off like it has done in this case, and told the press such action is never taken lightly. Can you guess which nurse’s career is over? That’s right, the murderer may remain, for now, a nurse; the other person has been struck off. Great system we’re running here.
Time for me to get back to the ACSEF website! More next week, perhaps a look at the serious mistake Glasgow’s made by rejecting designs for George Square. Have they ever considered the benefits of a granite web, I wonder?
‘What lies beneath?’ is a question which should be asked about Union Terrace Gardens, not least by those who wish to build underground structures there. Aside from the roots of 250-year-old trees and rich soil which helps prevent city centre flooding, we have the now underground Den Burn. Jake Williams shares his thoughts.
The stairs of Rosemount Library in Aberdeen used to be lined with framed pictures, either photos or line drawings, of Aberdeen from bygone times.
The one that I remember was from sometime in the 1800s, showing Union Terrace Gardens before Union Terrace Gardens was there. It was a view looking north from the Union Street bridge, but there was no park, no theatre and no railway line.
Three decades later, the accuracy of my recollection isn’t guaranteed, but I remember looking at a row of cottages on the right where Belmont Street is now, and another row on the left where Union Terrace is now.
The houses all had long thin gardens with drying greens right down to the Den Burn, which flowed straight down the middle of the picture, and there was a hump-backed bridge and a few wee wooden bridges over the burn. Union Bridge was opened in 1805, and the railway was built about 1867, so the picture must have been drawn between these dates. The gardens were laid out about 1879 [I got the dates from Wikipedia].
The name of the Den Burn is perpetuated by the street and the health centre named after it, but the existence of the burn itself is nearly forgotten, having been underground for most of its length for the last 150 years.
It starts somewhere near Westhill, passes Woodend Hospital, and I believe it still runs through the back gardens of the big houses in Rubislaw Den. Near Queen’s Cross it is in a deep stone-lined channel, visible from some of the streets and lanes around Osborne Place.
One summer about 1980, during a dry spell when there wasn’t much water in the burn, my pal Chris and I went an adventure. We scrambled down into the wee canyon where the burn ran along the side of the Grampian TV studio at Queen’s Cross and walked downstream in our wellies.
Soon the burn went underground and we carried on with torches. It was like the films where the heroes are journeying through a city’s Victorian sewers: a tunnel of red bricks arching over our heads, with enough headroom to walk upright.
they must have built the brick tunnel right up to the side of the bridge
Here and there were ladders going up to a heavy steel manhole cover, and we could keek through the keyhole and try to work out where we were, from a limited view of the upper part of some building. We weren’t tempted to try and push up the cover, as we were probably in the middle of the road.
We must have crossed under Rosemount Viaduct and under Spa street and down round the back of the theatre, because we looked out from the keyhole of a manhole and saw trees: we were in between Union Terrace Gardens and the railway.
A little further on there was a bit where the roof of the tunnel was different. Instead of red bricks, it was old stone masonry. It was the hump-back bridge that was in the picture on the library stairs. When they covered over the burn, they must have built the brick tunnel right up to the side of the bridge, left the bridge as it was, and carried on the tunnel from the other side of the bridge.
We didn’t go much further. The water was getting deeper and moving faster and we didn’t fancy getting swept off our feet and into a cold wet grave somewhere near the harbour.
I went into the library recently to ask about the old pictures of the Denburn valley. They have a few pictures but not quite like I remember. One is looking from the north towards Union Street, and it does show a wee stone bridge over the burn, but it looks more graceful than the bridge in the tunnel, more of a sweeping curve than a hump-back.
Maybe there were two stone bridges? The library’s internet archive www.sivercityvault.org.uk has a few pictures, too.
The proposal to fill-in the gardens for another shopping centre may never come true if they can’t raise the necessary millions, or if there’s a change of political power in the council. My proposal for improving the gardens is to exhume the Den Burn from its tunnel, and let the old stone bridge see daylight again.
Reference:
http://www.silvercityvault.org.uk/index.phpa
also photos 691 , 747, 748, 891 from www.silvercityvault.org.uk
Hall Harper looks at what ‘listing’ a building really means. Photographs Sarah Lynn.
In 1990, the Civic Trust of Scotland first inaugurated an Open Doors Day in Glasgow and Ayr as part of that year’s European City of Culture celebrations. Since then, the number of participating towns and cities has increased until now almost every area in Scotland has an Open Doors Day during which free access is allowed to various public buildings.
To decide which buildings will be included each year, the CTS invites the general public to nominate those buildings that they would be interested in seeing, with each local programme being created and managed by the Area Co-ordinator.
This year a number of people suggested that the Open Doors Day in September should include the Aberdeen City Council (ACC) owned, Category B listed, Victorian toilets in Union Terrace Gardens; a site that, according to CTS’s Project Co-ordinator, Abigail Daly, was one in which there was a lot of interest. Despite this, however, she last week contacted those who had proposed the toilets to tell them that they are not being included in this year’s programme.
In her email she advised that CTS had asked the local co-ordinator, who is an employee of ACC, to make enquiries regarding the condition of the building and whether access would be possible, but that:
“Unfortunately we didn’t hear back in time for the inclusion of the site into this year’s programme, although we know there is a lot of enthusiasm and interest from members of the public.”
Following this, Sarah Lynn, a concerned member of the public, found last weekend that it was possible to simply walk into the ladies toilets in Union Terrace Gardens as they had been left open, apparently to allow traders from the International Market to access water. What she saw there was, she said, disgusting “… and made me want to cry, to be honest.”
She was also able to take some photographs in order that others can be made aware of the distressing state of this listed building.
Hearing this and seeing the pictures that Sarah had taken, got me thinking about what ‘listing’ a building actually means, so I had a look at Historic Scotland’s Guide to the Protection of Scotland’s Listed Buildings.
This publication covers a number of areas including listed building consent, planning permission, repairs and the Buildings at Risk Register.
Reading through the document, however, it appears that ‘listing’ is more about owners having to get permission before making changes to a listed building rather than placing any obligation on them to maintain and repair it.
Owners must, therefore:
“check with the planning authority whether listed building consent is required before [they] carry out any internal or external alterations to a listed building.”
And subsequently:
“If the proposed work is considered to have an adverse affect on the character of the building, the change may be discouraged and listed building consent may be refused by the planning authority.”
They will also be required to seek both planning permission and listed buildings consent if they, “wish to alter or extend a listed building in any way which would affect its character and [the] proposed alteration is included in development for which planning permission is required.”
When it comes to maintenance and repair, however, owners of listed buildings are only, “ encouraged to repair and maintain their property, just like the owners of any other buildings.”
The document goes on to record that:
“The legislation makes no express requirement for an owner to repair or maintain their property. However, if an owner fails to keep a listed building in a reasonable state of repair, the planning authority may serve a Repairs Notice. If an owner fails to comply with this notice, the planning authority, with the consent of Scottish Ministers, may be entitled to buy it by compulsory purchase.”
But in the case of the UTG toilets, the owner who has failed to keep the listed building in a reasonable state of repair also happens to be the planning authority – so I suspect there is little chance of any action being taken under this provision.
Turning to the section on the Buildings at Risk Register it notes that the Register:
“… has been in operation in Scotland since 1990 in response to a concern at the growing number of listed buildings and buildings in Conservation Areas, that were vacant and had fallen into a state of disrepair.”
A promising start. But further reading of this section quickly dispels any hope that there might be some action possible as the register is really only a means to record buildings which are at risk, not one that will actually provide a level of authority that could require the owner to do something to reverse the situation.
As the document itself says:
“The Register acts as a valuable resource for initiatives aimed at helping to reduce the number of listed and historic buildings at risk and is one way to market a property to potential retailers at a price reflecting its condition.”
In other words, being on the register might result in a building’s purchase price being reduced to a level where a benefactor might be encouraged to buy and save it – but on the other hand …
Like most things these days, the Register is available online, and it is consequently extremely easy to check out which buildings in your area are ‘at risk’. I had a look to see what was recorded for Aberdeen and noted that there are a total of 26 ‘at risk’ buildings registered in the city, 16 of which are parts of the category A listed Broadford Works in Maberley Street.
There are 26 ‘at risk’ buildings registered in the city
Yes, that’s right, the same Broadford Works in respect of which ACC recently served the owner with a Dangerous Buildings Notice that requires him carry out repair work and, if he doesn’t, the Council can carry out the work on his behalf and send him the bill.
Another case of don’t do as I do, do as I say?
So to sum up, it appears that we have a number of official organisations in place to keep records of old and valuable buildings, but no legislation in place that obliges their owners to preserve them. Perhaps, given this situation, we can be forgiven for asking whether our heritage is safe in the hands of the bureaucrats, or whether the time has come for us to demand more of our public servants.
With thanks to Dave Macdermid.
The Friends of Duthie Park group is looking for a part time fundraiser to assist with ongoing funding to improve the park, following the completion of the current major restoration work.
This will see the return of many original Victorian elements.
As ‘Friends’ Chairman Tony Dawson outlines, there are potentially some tremendous opportunities for local organisations within the confines of the Park.
“There are specific projects that do not come within the remit of the restoration work, including both winter and summer planting. Additionally there are initiatives we would love to be able to afford, such as the installation of a water harvesting system for the glasshouses, or the development of a Duthie Park smart phone application. The Friends also has its Annual Open Day which would, I believe, be an excellent community ‘fit’ for a local company, with this year’s event next month on Sunday 19th August.
“We have produced a selection of potential packages that could be available and what we are looking for is someone who could spend time speaking to local businesses persuading them to become involved, in return for a commission on any funds secured.”
Anyone interested in the position should, in the first instance, contact info@friendsofduthiepark.co.uk including full contact details.
With thanks to Dave Macdermid.
Major restoration work that will see the return of many original Victorian elements to the North East’s most popular visitor attraction is progressing on schedule. And the ‘Friends of Duthie Park’ group is hosting its second open day next month.
Sunday 19th August will see festivities running between noon and 4 p.m.
As Friends Chairman Tony Dawson explains, there will be something for all of the family.
“Last year’s inaugural event attracted more than two thousand people and we will be looking to go one better this time around! I think most people are aware that there are major works going on at the park, without necessarily knowing the details. This will be an opportunity to see at first hand the progress that is being made as we’ll be organising tours during the afternoon.
“In addition, we’ll have plenty of entertainment, including live music throughout the afternoon, horse and cart rides, football coaching with AFC, fitness demonstrations, children’s entertainment, gardening workshops and many other stalls and attractions.
“And of course ‘Spike’ the talking cactus, the park’s most popular resident will be there too, after making his reappearance after a decade at last year’s open day.”
A full timetable for the day will be available on www.friendsofduthiepark.co.uk from the beginning of August.
For information contact Dave Macdermid on 07805 436988. dave.macdermid@bigpartnership.co.uk
£10,000 has been awarded for a Jubilee party in Union Terrace Gardens! With thanks to Iain Richardson.
Community group Common Good Aberdeen were delighted this week to receive an award of £10,000 to support a Jubilee Tea Party on Saturday 23rd June in Aberdeen’s Union Terrace Gardens.
The money was awarded by Aberdeen City Council from the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Community Fund.
“This is great news”, said Common Good Aberdeen spokesperson Dorothy Bothwell.
“We’re planning a big party for the citizens of Aberdeen on 23rd June and this money will help to make sure it’s a day to remember. We’ll have a floored marquee, live music throughout the day, a horse and carriage, refreshments and much, much more. We want to make this a big event with something for everyone”.
Local business Cafe 52 will donate food and refreshments on the day.
Common Good Aberdeen campaigns for better stewardship of Common Good land including Union Terrace Gardens. They want to see investment and sympathetic improvements in Union Terrace Gardens.
For more information, contact:
Iain Richardson on 07833 453961, or Dorothy Bothwell on 583451,
email: info@commongoodaberdeen.org,
http://commongoodaberdeen.org
If you are of the opinion that the City Garden Project controversy was all about what flavour of city centre park Aberdeen should have – think again. There seems to have been a much bigger picture involved here, and the politics are murky. Mike Shepherd writes.
The power of the print media in shaping opinion
The public referendum has been held, and the City Garden Project won by the smallest of margins: 52-48%. Feelings are still poisonous in the city, as it is clear that a marginal result was swung by dubious means.
On the City Garden Project side, unregistered groups spent a disproportionately large sum of money on campaign material, whereas the officially registered groups were restricted to spending about £8,000 only.
Some of the claims made by supporters of the City Garden Project were outrageous and substantially misleading. One newspaper advert is now being investigated by the Advertising Standards Authority.
Even Aberdeen Council were responsible for punting a justification for the City Garden Project with the questionable claim that a new park could create 6,500 new jobs in the city.
The local papers showed a bias in favour of Sir Ian Wood’s project and framed their reports to show one side in a much better light than the other (“Yes, vote for change” or “No, don’t vote for change”). Ludicrous claims were accepted uncritically – such as oil companies leaving Aberdeen if the scheme did not go ahead.
I had been advised by an expert that:
“Newspapers are very powerful at shaping public opinion”
and:
“You will need the support of a PR company during the campaign.”
It was very good advice, but in practice not something that a campaign group of limited influence and funds could realistically put in place. Yet, it was clear from canvassing in the street that the combined effort of relentless advertising, the glossy brochures and the press bias was having an effect.
Whereas many would stop and give me a considered analysis of how they would vote, a large minority were reflecting City Garden propaganda back at me, phrases recognizable from glossy brochures or Evening Express headlines.
Our society today is witnessing a battle between democracy and political lobbyists / PR companies. Out of this, democracy is not doing that well. It’s a shock to see this writ large in Aberdeen, but at least the Gardens Referendum result has made this crystal clear to any thinking person in the city.
Local politics
After two years of campaigning to keep the Gardens, I have been able to observe how local politics works. It is clear that the current council administration is very business friendly and they will tend to make decisions that primarily favour business interests. At just about every council meeting you will hear the phrase “Aberdeen is open for business.”
Local democracy commonly involves a conflict between what business wants and what is in the interests of the general public. For example, if Aberdeen Airport is allowed to land flights at night, Dyce residents will get woken up by the noise. The conflict between business and public interests came to the fore after the consultation on Sir Ian Wood’s scheme two years ago. Over 50 local businessmen wrote to the council asking for the result to be ignored:
‘due to misunderstanding of the project among the public’
and an ‘inability’ to appreciate its impact. The council – to their shame – did this. The current Council administration (an SNP / Lib Dem coalition) appears to favour business almost every time.
There are a number of reasons why business gets its own way with the council. Many councillors are instinctively business friendly and will tend to support projects that are favoured by local commercial interests. This is certainly true of the Conservatives on the council and of many councillors from the other parties too.
There is also a powerful business lobby. Businessmen make up two thirds of the Aberdeen City and Shire Economic Forum (ACSEF), a “public-private partnership that drives economic development in the region”. Funded by both Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Councils, ACSEF is a non-elected body that have been given a significant degree of control over local economic policy. There is no doubt that ACSEF exerts power and influence over the activities of both councils.
advanced societies work by a system of checks and balances between moneyed interests and the public regard
ACSEF were involved with the City Garden Project in the early days and described it as one of their flagship projects. Two of the board members, including the Chairman Tom Smith, are directors of the Aberdeen City Garden Trust, the group that organised the architectural competition and who hope to take the project forward to completion.
Extensive networking appears to go on amongst the “great and the good”. Politicians, local businessmen, council officials and senior figures in local organisations turn up and meet at parties, functions, charity events and business meetings. One Freedom of Information request gives an indication of how much hospitality is provided to council officials for instance:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/76531/response/199821
To the worldly wise, this will not come as a surprise. However, advanced societies work by a system of checks and balances between moneyed interests and the public regard. This does not appear to be working too well in Aberdeen.
The SNP and the City Garden Project
The SNP have been intimately involved with the City Garden Project since its inception. Alex Salmond was present at the project launch in 2008.
http://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/Article.aspx/933616
But only recently have both Alex Salmond and Callum McCaig, the SNP leader in the council, explicitly endorsed the City Garden Project.
Yet, the majority of SNP councillors have supported it throughout (the notable exception being Clr. Muriel Jaffray). This is clear from the voting records every time the project has come up for debate in the Council. The SNP support has been instrumental for the progress of the City Garden Project through successive council votes.
Major businessmen such as David Murray, Brian Souter, Jim McColl and Martin Gilbert have now endorsed the SNP.
The SNP have a reputation for populist politics and it may seem surprising that they have embraced such a controversial project for the city. I believe that there is a much bigger picture here, and one that takes precedent over local politics. The SNP are essentially a single-issue party; they want independence for Scotland. The realpolitik of the SNP is that much of what they do is focussed towards this end.
A key aim for the SNP has been to secure the support of major business figures in Scotland. This is partly financial; the party has no natural source of funds apart from membership fees, but they are also trying to secure influence leading up to and beyond any independence date. Major businessmen such as David Murray, Brian Souter, Jim McColl and Martin Gilbert have now endorsed the SNP.
Sir Brian Souter, founder of the bus company Stagecoach, caused controversy when he donated £500,000 to the SNP in 2007. Shortly afterwards, the SNP dropped an election commitment to bus re-regulation, although they denied that there was any connection to Sir Brian Souter’s donation.
Sir Ian Wood has not given open support to the SNP, yet the SNP continue to court the billionaire’s favour. Not only has Alex Salmond given his own backing to the City Garden Project, the machinery of Government has also been used to bankroll the scheme.
Scottish Enterprise funded the public consultation two years ago and also allowed grant money to be used for the technical feasibility study. Although the public rejected Sir Ian Wood’s project in the consultation, it didn’t stop Scottish Enterprise from giving Aberdeen City Garden Trust £375,000 of public money from its available funds for major infrastructure projects.
Another niggly problem has been the concerns of Audit Scotland
The Scottish Government are keen to provide investment money for the project through TIF funding. Yet it has been established that the initial proposal did not rank very highly by comparison to other investment and infrastructure projects elsewhere in Scotland.
The Scottish Futures Trust, who carried out the ranking, has refused to make their calculations public in spite of Freedom of Information requests to do so. Another niggly problem has been the concerns of Audit Scotland, who have questioned the long term capability of the indebted Aberdeen Council to pay back a risky loan for the project.
The proposed use of valuable investment and infrastructure funds for something as trivial as building a new park is shocking. The business case is dubious and the council can’t afford the risk. Political considerations seem to have taken precedence to a strict business evaluation on the Aberdeen TIF case.
Sir Ian Wood discussed independence recently and gave an indication of what he wants from the Scottish Government:
“The Wood Group will not endorse a Yes or No vote on independence. But Sir Ian added: “What’s key is the extent to which our clients, and to some extent ourselves, anticipate that a Scottish Government would continue with a similar oil and gas policy to the UK.
“The suggestion right now, from the discussions I’ve heard, is that there’s a lot of overlap between the present Scottish Government’s thinking on the development of the oil and gas industry and the UK government’s thinking.”
He went on:
“What’s important – and I think the First Minister realises this – is that they must provide as much clarity as possible over the next two years towards the vote in 2014, so that we minimise the uncertainty.”
http://www.scotsman.com/captains-of-industry-and-finance-join-clamour-for-clarity
I have no doubt that this will happen.
The SNP are hoping to secure a majority at the council elections on May 3rd. This is possible, but as a one-issue party they tend to do better in national elections than local elections. They are also heavily identified with the Union Terrace Gardens issue and this appeared to have cost them votes in the Scottish elections last year.
http://aberdeenvoice.com/2011/05/the-election-the-utg-effect/
If they do not get a majority, this raises the intriguing possibility of an administration run by a Labour-SNP coalition. The Lib-Dems are likely to see their vote collapse outside the West End of the city. The Labour group are vehemently opposed to the City Garden Project and it could be that a condition for agreeing to form a coalition is that the scheme is dropped.
The “Union” in Union Terrace Gardens refers to the union of the United Kingdom and Ireland in 1800. Perhaps it is ironic that the park has ostensibly become a pawn in the big game of Scottish independence. It would be immensely sad if this was the case. Aberdeen’s heritage could end up sacrificed for the sake of political wheeling and dealing.
This would not bode well for a future Scotland. As Paul Scofield, playing Thomas More, said in A Man For All Seasons:
“I think that when statesmen forsake their own private conscience for the sake of their public duties, they lead their country by a short route to chaos.”
A report on the UTG referendum was discussed at a meeting of full council on Wednesday with a view to it being approved before being sent to the Scottish Government. Friends of Union Terrace Gardens chairman Mike Shepherd was permitted to give a deputation. Aberden voice presents Mike’s deputation in full.
“I was allowed to give a deputation here in January when I said that the FoUTG would agree to take part in a referendum if it was fair.
We agreed to the referendum in spite of the shameful behaviour of this council in ignoring the result of the public consultation two years ago. We agreed for two reasons.
First, we saw the CGP as a juggernaut pushed through relentlessly by business and a friendly council. There were only two options to stop this; either through the referendum or legal action. We chose the referendum.
Secondly, we chose this route through public spirit. We were only too aware of the poisonous attitudes building on both sides of the issue. Aberdeen was at war with itself. A fair referendum was the only way of killing this beast.
I also told the council that the referendum would have to be fair because implicit in taking part was that we accepted the final result, whatever it was. This was said in good faith.
THIS WAS NOT A FAIR REFERENDUM!
We do not accept the result. The process was flawed. Internet and phone voting should not have been allowed as without signatures, this was open to fraud. The Green party have also asked me to complain about their shortened message in the information pack that was sent out.
The City Garden Project supporters were allowed to spend tens of thousands of pounds on PR, newspapers, leaflets and radio ads. This money spent on advertising bought a marginal result for the referendum.
The ads were often misleading and in some instances blatantly so. We were told of a bogus £182M investment, consisting of a bogus £15M of private investment and a bogus £20M Art Gallery grant which didn’t exist. One misleading ad is under investigation by the Advertising Standards Authority.
This council also misled the public. The claim that a new park could create 6,500 jobs was utterly ludicrous. They did not explain the risks of borrowing through TIF properly, even when Audit Scotland expressed their concerns about the long term implications for the Council’s finances.
You are £618M in debt, you cannot afford the risk on further borrowing.
The council were partial to one side of the referendum. The ACGT were allowed to show a video in the Art Gallery, council property, yet we were excluded until after several days of complaint on the matter.
This was a dishonest referendum. The public were misled right up the City Garden path. The council should vote to ignore the result. Furthermore, this report should not be passed onto the Scottish Government as suggested. The proposal to spend valuable investment and infrastructure money on something as trivial as a new park is a disgrace.
We do not accept the result of the referendum and we intend to carry on campaigning to save Union Terrace Gardens. Thank you.”
Evening Express report here. http://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/Article.aspx
With thanks to Iain Richardson.
Campaign group Common Good Aberdeen are moving forward with plans for a Community Cafe in Aberdeen’s Union Terrace Gardens.
The Cafe will be staffed entirely by volunteers and all profits will go towards enhancing the Gardens. Many people are passionate about saving Union Terrace Gardens and this is an opportunity for them to make a direct and meaningful contribution.
With summer approaching, a cafe in the Gardens withoutdoor seating will act as a focus for people to visit, enjoy and perhaps re-discover this fantastic space.
The modest, temporary structure will have similarly modest set-up and running costs. Profits will go back into the Gardens and we hope to pay for improvements which could include safe and clean toilets, improved disabled access, activity area(s) for children, tree and flower planting.
A planning application for a temporary cafe has now been submitted. We’re looking for volunteers to give their time and effort to run the Cafe and to make it a success.