A call by SNP councillors to hold a special council meeting on the Marischal Square development after their bid to halt the project was rejected has been backed by opposition members.
Councillor Ian Yuill, leader of Aberdeen City Council’s Liberal Democrats, said his party had never approved of the controversial multi-million project – and that they fully supported further discussions on the matter.
His support came after a “last-chance” motion was lodged by the SNP calling for any progression of the redevelopment of the former council HQ to be halted until they had looked at all the options.
Group leader Callum McCaig and convener Kirsty Blackman claimed the public had been “misled” on what Marischal Square would look like and said if the project could not be scrapped, a redesign should be considered.
They expected their motion to be put to councillors at the next full council meeting on March 4.
But Lord Provost George Adam blocked it on Wednesday night – describing their actions as “incompetent” for not following protocol and alerting officials to their plan.
Last night, the SNP submitted an application to the provost for a special council meeting to be held.
The move required ten councillors to sign a motion backing further discussions – the SNP party has 15.
Cllr McCaig said it had been “pointless” rejecting their motion as they were perfectly entitled to request a special council meeting where the subject could be debated anyway.
“This is totally undemocratic that the administration has tried to use technicalities to stop debate on Marischal Square,” he said.
“Aberdeen wants this debate and the opportunity for the project to be halted. If they had any faith in their building project they would be willing to debate it.
“They cannot silence us that easily, we were expecting them to play these games and will be pressing ahead with the debate.”
Cllr Yuill confirmed his party’s support.
“The Liberal Democrats have consistently opposed the planned development by Muse. We do not believe it is the right development for this key site in our city centre,” he said.
“It’s clear more and more Aberdeen residents want to see either a halt or at least major changes to the Muse scheme. We are giving our full support to the call for a special council meeting to discuss doing just that.”
A council spokesman confirmed the application had been received and that the Lord Provost was looking at potential dates.
The meeting must take place within 14 days of submission.