The ruling minority coalition in charge of Aberdeen Council has been shaken – after one of its most senior figures quit her high profile position in charge of work to reinvigorate the city centre.
Independent councillor Marie Boulton, who leads a three-member group propping up the Conservative-Aberdeen Labour administration, has resigned as the council’s lead on the city centre masterplan – claiming her position was “untenable”.
Mrs Boulton looked visibly upset at a Town House meeting on Friday afternoon as she was left standing alone in her stance on Union Street pedestrianisation.
If seconded, even by a councillor who might later vote another way, Mrs Boulton would have been able to make her case.
It is understood she will only be giving up this unpaid role – and plans to continue her “other extensive responsibilities”.
As convener of the council’s capital committee, Mrs Boulton was paid £31,248 in salary last year – and holds power as planning convener and as head of the licensing board.
There is no suggestion she will give up those positions – meaning she intends to remain part of the administration, which is already a minority coalition of 22.
But it could well indicate significant trouble within the delicate arrangement, grasping to power with six month until the next election.
Marie Boulton quits: What is the row about?
The Lower Deeside councillor has been at the forefront of the masterplanning work since it began in 2015 – leading the council through the refurbishment of Aberdeen Art Gallery and Provost Skene’s House, the £28m revamp of Union Terrace Gardens and the construction of Marischal Square and the part-pedestrianised Broad Street.
Despite her experience – and lead role with officers in brainstorming ways of brightening up the city centre – Mrs Boulton was left without a seconder as she proposed allowing buses to return to the central strip of the Aberdeen’s main thoroughfare in the meantime.
Her coalition colleagues pushed on with pedestrianisation of the Market Street to Bridge Street stretch, despite concerns from disability groups that the move would “engineer” their exclusion from the city centre.
Mrs Boulton had pressed for a final decision on pedestrianisation to be delayed until June to allow extra consultation and appraisal of the options.
Despite warnings from Town House accountants that failure to pedestrianise Union Street could cost the city a £20 million grant to help pay for a new market on the former British Home Stores site.
It is understood the furious councillor rounded on administration colleagues after the meeting – confirming late on Friday night that she was stepping back from the project.
Marie Boulton: ‘My position has become untenable,’ as masterplan lead quits
She told Aberdeen Journals: “It is with deep regret that I have decided that my position as the administration’s lead on the city centre masterplan has now become untenable.
“My mantra has always been that we must put those with the greatest challenges at the forefront of our thinking and at the heart of everything we do.
“I feel proud that we have achieved this on many of the recent projects and would reference the designs of the art gallery and Union Terrace Gardens, both based on making them fully accessible to everyone, regardless of their mobility, age or any other potential barrier.
“Whilst I support the majority of the recommendations at today’s meeting, and I am not saying that pedestrianisation is not an option, I believe that by delaying a final decision until June and in the meantime returning buses to Union Street and carrying out full option appraisals and stakeholder engagement, we would have been able to address the genuine concerns of many and importantly, the most vulnerable in our society.
She concluded: “I still believe we should delay the decision and make it in June, fully informed.”
Aberdeen Labour council leader Jenny Laing and fellow administration leader, Conservative Ryan Houghton, could not be reached for comment.
But SNP group leader Alex Nicoll said: “We’ve consistently pushed for a refresh of the masterplan that has support across the council. It seems we now have a masterplan that doesn’t even have support across the administration.
“I can sympathise with Councillor Boulton’s frustration about the decision.
“We stand by our position that decisions on the masterplan should only be only be made at full council.
“The decision, that saw huge changes to our city rubber stamped by just four out of 45 councillors is an affront to our democratic process.
“An SNP administration will commit to annual reviews of the masterplan at full council.
“We need to have openness, transparency and accountability in our town house once again.”
Mrs Boulton said she could not support the SNP vote – which would have handed defeat to her own administration – as she felt they were pursuing “a political agenda”.