Multi-million-pound plans for a second wave of work at Aberdeen beach have been put on hold amid fears a replacement leisure centre might never be built.
Work on the first £62 million phase of the seafront revamp is expected to begin next week.
But as construction of the futuristic playpark, events field, amphitheatre, bike lanes and improvements to Broadhill gets under way, concern has been raised that flagship pieces of the Aberdeen beach revitalisation might never come to fruition.
What now for the Aberdeen beach revamp?
A total of £150m has been put aside for the Aberdeen city centre and beach masterplan refresh.
But top officials think it will cost more than £440m just to build everything on the beach wishlist, including a new boardwalk with safe swimming zone beneath it.
That’s before all the plans for Union Street and its surrounding are even considered.
The SNP and Liberal Democrats running the council took stock of official advice and have now paused any further work “until additional resources can be identified”.
They have high hopes for the new Aberdeen beach parks either side of the Boulevard and “enhanced” Broadhill.
But others urged a last-minute rethink to ensure the city is spending its limited cash as best it can.
Conservative councillor Emma Farquhar pressed for a late change to the script, to park plans for the £800,000 amphitheatre.
Instead, she wanted a new Beach Leisure Centre to be bumped up the list from the distant phase two to be included in the current work.
Deal done: Ditching Aberdeen beach amphitheatre would cost council
However, with building to begin next week and materials already ordered, Aberdeen City Council would be liable for “financial recourse of a few hundred thousand pounds” if it shelved the amphitheatre.
And even if the local authority managed to scrape back the entire £800,000 cost, a new leisure centre would cost 100 times the saving.
Procurement chief Craig Innes told the finance committee: “We have got to the outline business case for a new Beach Leisure Centre.
“Certainly on an enhanced basis of what’s currently there, cost consultants were coming back with a figure in excess of £80m.”
The existing, dilapidated Beach Leisure Centre is expected to be demolished by the end of spring at a cost of £500,000.
And last month, Sport Aberdeen boss Keith Heslop told The P&J he didn’t expect any new facility at the seafront to be on the same scale as its predecessor – which cost £1m a year to run.
Lack of a Beach Leisure Centre would be a ‘deep shame’ for Aberdeen
However, Conservative Ms Farquhar said delay in replacing it would be a “huge disappointment and deep shame”.
“We think it’s reasonable to reconsider the priority of what’s in phase one,” she said.
“We suggest dropping the least popular aspect of phase one [the amphitheatre] in favour of the most popular project at the beach, the new leisure centre.
“It shows the public the council is seriously prioritising its rebuilding and reopening.
“If it looks like we’re going to have long delays while we look for additional pots of money, we might have to drop things.”
‘We can’t do everything at once’
SNP finance convener Alex McLellan said they wouldn’t back the idea, “particularly when we don’t know the full scale of the cost of the penalty”.
He added: “Knowing the possible ballpark price for a new leisure centre, I think we need more work on that.
“Also conversations are ongoing around an integrated facility with the football stadium as well.
“Conversation is ongoing on the Beach Leisure Centre and unfortunately – and this is one of the challenges I grapple with – we really need to be cognisant of the resource pressures the council has.
“And we simply can’t do everything at once. It doesn’t work.”
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New Aberdeen FC beach stadium talks ‘ongoing’
Mr McLellan told The P&J last month that a replacement stadium for Aberdeen FC could still be “on the cards” as part of the beach revamp.
But the Pittodrie replacement would only be built if the football club paid for it.
The new Dons ground has been intrinsically linked with improved leisure facilities promised when the £150m beach masterplan was first drawn up.
Regardless, calls to reprioritise the Beach Leisure Centre never made it to the final vote after a losing out, in an actual coin toss, to Labour’s damning indictment of the city centre and beach masterplan – “it’s a complete mess” – under SNP and Lib Dem stewardship.
But the ruling administration voted that down 5-2, and in doing so dropped the anchor on many big ideas that had first excited the Aberdeen public about the beach masterplan.
Costs revealed as Aberdeen’s big-spending beach bonanza begins
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