Senior Aberdeen council figures have been accused of telling “scare stories” in order to progress plans for a new market in the city centre.
Councillors voted through plans for the £50m marketplace on the site of the former British Homes Stores and indoor market sites, linking Union Street with the Green, at a meeting yesterday.
The project last month received a boost of £20m from the UK levelling up fund, as long as Union Street was pedestrianised too.
Council staff have already begun buying up properties surrounding the long-abandoned department store.
A fierce row over pedestrianisation caused long-serving masterplan lead Marie Boulton to sensationally quit the role last night.
Developers reckon it will cost about £40m to build the new market, which is designed to act as a “beacon” to bring people back to the city’s main street and boost connections with the bus and train stations.
Town House officials had paired the work with the pedestrianisation in their application for funding, which is sold as a direct windfall of Brexit by Westminster.
SNP argued market millions could be separated from Union Street pedestrianisation
Aberdeen Journals yesterday morning highlighted a warning from the council’s top brass that the projects were “interdependent” – meaning the money was at risk if the Granite Mile was not fully pedestrianised.
As it was, a tied four-four vote was sealed by finance convener Ryan Houghton’s casting vote – and in-depth proposals to ban cars, taxis and buses from the Market Street to Bridge Street stretch are now to be drawn up.
Arguing instead that Christmas trade would be bolstered by a return of buses up the length of Union Street, SNP group leader Alex Nicoll attacked newspaper reports that the move would put the hard-won cash at risk.
He told members of the city growth (finance) committee: “I have been disappointed which has secured from the UK Government has been subject in the media to scare stories that it might not be provided.
“We heard clear guidance from the resources director that there had not been any conditions imposed up until this time and that discussion will be ongoing with the UK Treasury.
“Everyone in this chamber will know will know that when we have taken very large civil engineering projects to fruition, there has almost always been changes that have had to be implemented for one reason or another.
“That is not unusual and I am sure the UK Government is totally familiar with that.”
Finance chief points to the ‘interdependency’ of Aberdeen market and Union Street pedestrianisation
What resources director Steve Whyte had told councillors was that talks with the UK Government to hammer out the details of the investment, announced in Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s budget, were yet to be arranged.
So far, the local authority has a letter from HM Treasury promising the cash for the projects, which were overwhelming backed by the majority of readers polled by The Press And Journal and The Evening Express.
Before the final vote, he said: “Council officers submitted a bid to the UK Government for the levelling up fund, which was for the market and for pedestrianisation of that part of Union Street.
“The next stage of the process will be to sit down with civil servants from the government and work up a monitoring and evaluation model that will allow us to demonstrate to them how we are going to deliver the project.
“If the committee makes a decision not to go ahead with the project we would withdraw the application – or if it was going to be significantly different – we would certainly have to notify the UK Government that the project we submitted was no longer going forward.”
Council leader Jenny Laing rounded on the suggestion of a return to the Union Street of old – after the lifting of the temporary Spaces For People closures – while permanent plans continued to be worked upon.
“The opposition want to go within a couple of weeks of getting the money and say actually we don’t think that plan is the one that we want to follow through with?” she laughed.
“Do you know why no one has told you the money is at risk? It’s because we have not told the government that the plan might not be to pedestrianise… so we would look forward to that!”
Finance convener Ryan Houghton had warned his council colleagues about the risk of change in the funding award if pedestrianisation proposals were rejected.
Yesterday morning, he said they needed to “reflect” on the warning from the accountants.
Urging a way forward for the project, he said: “Making decisions – especially large ones – can be significantly difficult but that is why we are elected: to exercise judgement and take things forward.
“We would be remiss not to do that.”