Readers of The P&J and Evening Express have predicted an alien invasion after seeing new designs for Union Street.
And there is only one puppet they think can save Aberdeen city centre: Captain Scarlet.
It may seem a little ridiculous to suggest the virtually immortal Spectrum agent will be needed to stave off an attack on the Granite City.
But artistic impressions of the central section of Union Street have certainly raised the possibility with our fair and reasonable readers.
Union Street designs: Response is out of this world
A set of six ringed lights are shown in the drawings above the bus-only section of the city’s main thoroughfare, outside of the planned £50 million market.
Similar to the main round light feature in the expected-to-be-finished-soon Union Terrace Gardens, the Evening Express described the proposals for “a city of halos”.
Readers responded, highlighting the similarity with the eerie green rings of light which symbolised the evil extra-terrestrials in the 1960s science-fiction TV show.
Tracy Leach commented: “It’s the Mysterons!! #alieninvasion
“Where’s Captain Scarlet?”
Others agreed there was a sci-fi look to them, with Nicole Forman adding: “The aliens are coming”.
Don’t remember? Brush up on your Supermarionation knowledge below.
Halo light designs prompt more usual Union Street criticisms too
Don’t worry, there were some more normal comments too.
Images of the plans for the city centre, complete with UTG-like lighting, brought criticism around Union Street’s demise.
Once the main shopping street in the city, malls and retail centres have drawn trade away.
Alan Gordon did not seem inspired by the lights, commenting: “Ahh, imagine all those beautiful halos over the collection of pound shops, bookies and not forgetting the jewels in Union Street’s crown – the vape shops!”
Ian Thomson echoed his thoughts, adding: “Are they halos or giant smoke rings from the vape shops?”
Others called for buildings along the Granite Mile to be cleaned and brought up to scratch before such transformational change is brought forward.
Work to do that was recently priced at £11m by the council.
“There’s (no) point trying to turn a pig’s ear into a silk purse,” Debbie Thomson warned.
There were calls for pavements to be cleaned and action on anti-social behaviour too.
But David Allison replied, claiming the complaints about betting, pound and vape shops was “getting a bit tiresome”.
“What about the cafes, restaurants, shoe shops, game stores, the cycle shop, beauty stores, jewellers and pharmacies?” he asked.
His positivity was met with more from Jill Cocker, who wrote: “Anything to revamp our city centre gets a big thumbs up from me 👌🏼❤️.
“If we can get the main street looking good and buzzing that would be ace.”
Meanwhile, the Union Street designs provoked a more light-hearted response from Eilidh Thomson, who joked: “Wouldn’t want to be paying that electricity bill 🤣”.
A world tour sparked by Union Street images
The floating lights also left some claiming Aberdeen planners had copied their homework from other towns and cities.
A number, including Terence Shirron, pointed to lookalike fixtures on the Mediterranean coast.
“Benidorm has them already! No original ideas,” he lamented.
Ringed lights were installed up the Avenida Mediterraneo last year.
They look pretty spectacular from above, as you can see below.
Other comparisons of the long Union Street, surrounded by whited-out buildings for design emphasis, were less polite still.
Richie Eddie branded it all “pie in the sky,” adding it looked “like Hitler’s vision of Berlin”.
The Nazi leader had planned to rebrand the city Germania, as the capital of his Greater Germanic Reich.
Since he was defeated, all we’ve seen of the scheme is white card models.
Perhaps, the design imagery of buses on Union Street shared by the council this week brought those to mind for Mr Eddie.
Union Street designs spark roads concerns
Meanwhile Juliet A’wse hailed the “bold idea”, slamming “backwards thinking residents”.
“They do the same in London so why not here? For everyone who is complaining, what would you do differently?”
Her optimism was quickly met with anger from David Bashford, who claimed she “clearly doesn’t drive”.
With bus and local access prioritised under the plans in an attempt to cut out cars almost entirely in some parts of the city centre, he worried: “Every road leads to Union Street.”
‘Why not spend the money improving the rest of Aberdeen?’
Some took issue with the very concept of the £150m revamp of the city centre and beach.
At a time when Aberdeen and its citizens are feeling the pinch, questions were asked about how else the money could be used.
Stacey Carpenter asked: “Why not spend the money improving the rest of the city?
“Why tart up a city centre that’s a ghost town because businesses can’t afford the shop rental. I’m sure there’s some parts of Aberdeen that could do with sprucing up.”
Others called for basic council services, like grass cutting in public spaces, to be prioritised before “squandering” cash on the ambitious Union Street designs.
Several also called for incentives, like local relief on rent and business rates, to “start making Aberdeen a town you want to open up a new store”.
Harking back to the glory days of the high street, Robert Appleton said: “I remember how amazing George Street was.
“A street in Aberdeen where you could find anything, no matter what you were looking for.”
An online public consultation has been launched on the plans.
In-person drop-in sessions will be held this week in the Bon Accord Centre, where plans are also on display.
Staff will be there between 2pm and 6pm on Thursday and Friday and from 12pm to 6pm on Saturday.
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