Aberdeen’s deputy council leader has put a £1billion price tag on new proposals to reinvent the city centre that went public yesterday.
Marie Boulton insisted that the masterplan of 30 different projects to make the city more attractive to residents and visitors was not just a wishlist, but a “deliverable” programme for the next 20-30 years.
The independent councillor conceded, however, that some of the schemes could not be carried out by the local authority and would require private developers to step in.
A series of images were released yesterday showing various parts of the city centre reimagined – including the partial pedestrianisation of Union Street and a revamp of the Denburn Valley with a walkway connecting Union Terrace Gardens with Belmont Street.
The council enlisted Building Design Partnership (BDP) to draw up the plans following an extensive consultation process, with the next stage of engagement with the public due to start on Saturday.
The local authority believes the plans could help deliver an additional 11,000 jobs and add £290million to the city’s “gross annual income”.
Mrs Boulton, who has taken the lead on regeneration of the city centre for the Labour-led coalition administration, said: “BDP have looked at all our different plans that have been sitting on shelves forever, and took the best of it, challenged some of the stuff they thought was inappropriate and have come up with 30 projects.
“It is not just all about us delivering as a council, but will allow the private sector to understand where they have opportunities.
“We are now going out with those projects to the public to say, what do you think, what is your feeling about this? It will come back, be refined further, and a final masterplan will come to council in May. Attached to the masterplan, which is the crucial part, will be a delivery model, which shows a timescale and a financing model.”
Mrs Boulton said there would be a “huge array of opportunities for funding” for the various projects – with a large chunk expected to come from the £2.9billion City Region Deal which both Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire councils are aiming to secure for the area.
She said: “Obviously, some of it will come through the City Deal, but we have also put £20million on the table for the city centre already to help kick start some of the projects. There is also European funding available, so we will go after that. For some of the cultural stuff, we will look to Creative Scotland and Heritage Lottery funding.
“When we looked at it, for the 20 to 30-year project, we are looking at around £1billion. There will be specific plans amongst guidelines, we can suggest to developers how they develop their properties and what our expectations are and what we think the city needs. We would like to think those would be taken on board.”
Mrs Boulton said that talks had already taken place with new rail franchise operator Abellio as well as state-owned Network Rail, which owns and maintains the infrastructure.
Both companies would have to be on board with plans to improve pedestrian connections to the city’s train station, as well as the bridge connecting from the gardens to Belmont Street which would go over the existing railway line at the Denburn.
The Lower Deeside councillor also had a word of caution for those people in Aberdeen who feel that they were ignored during the consultation process for the Marischal Square development.
An initial wave of public opposition snowballed after the Muse Developments scheme won planning permission in October last year, with many residents claiming that their views were ignored.
Mrs Boulton said: “What I would say to people is that if they don’t engage, they definitely won’t be heard.
“In this final burst of consultation, we are going out to the suburbs, we are going out to people online, we are reaching people in every way we can because we genuinely want to hear what people think.
“But don’t expect your comments to be represented 100% because it is physically impossible. Just don’t be disheartened if every single thing you have stipulated can’t be changed.”
The proposals will be showcased at a series of public consultation events in and around Aberdeen from March 14-19, beginning at the International Market on Saturday.
