Key legal advice being used to justify keeping Aberdeen’s city centre bus gates was not obtained until a month after council bosses first made a £8 million threat.
The Press and Journal can reveal that solicitors did not produce formal internal advice on the risk of removing the bus priority measures until July 8.
It comes after councillors were forced to fight for access to that full legal advice, after the local authority’s chief lawyer Alan Thomson tried to keep it under wraps.
On Friday, councillors will meet for a final, final, vote on the future of the bus gates around Market Street, Guild Street and Bridge Street after they were waylaid by tense ecumenical conflict.
It’s the second time a final decision has been postponed.
SNP and Lib Dem councillors running the council revealed their hand though – planning only to end the right-turn ban out of Union Terrace while making the rest of the experimental traffic regulation order (Etro) permanent.
Multi-million-pound Aberdeen bus gate threat made without legal backing
Ahead of Friday’s crunch meeting, Labour group leader M Tauqeer Malik – who has backed the business community’s calls for a Common Sense Compromise – has uncovered that the legal advice at the heart of the row was obtained on July 8.
But a whole month earlier, planning chief David Dunne had claimed the Scottish Government would be “completely within their rights to request money back”.
Now that we know the council had yet to formally come to a legal opinion, Mr Malik is raising questions around the basis for that multi-million-pound threat.
The funding Mr Dunne referred to paid for the South College Street works, backed with, so far, £8m of Transport Scotland funding.
On June 11, Mr Dunne said that bike-friendly project was “intrinsically linked” to the bus gates around Guild Street.
While the South College Street work didn’t enhance bus services, it was argued the work would allow for the bus priority measures around the Union Square bus station.
A letter from the roads quango confirming the South College Street grant also spells out that change, such as removing the bus gates, could open the door to money being clawed back.
Council finance chief Jonathan Belford claims, with the Scottish Government currently so cash-strapped, the risk is all the higher.
Labour: Council chiefs ‘took position before legal advice’
But the Labour group leader Mr Malik has demanded the council disregards that – and takes on the changes proposed by traders, business groups and The P&J.
Our Common Sense Compromise petition has been backed by 12,000 people, as shop owners warn plummeting trade might drive them out of Aberdeen city centre.
It’s as cagey city chiefs tussle with the prospect of the bus priority scheme being challenged in court, illustrated by their reluctance to let councillors see the legal documentation.
Mr Malik told The P&J: “Given we have confirmed the council did not receive legal advice until July 8, I find it astonishing that on June 11 David Dunne informed the transport committee that the council would have to return the £8m, if the bus gates did not remain in place.
“Clearly this indicates that officers of the council had taken a position on this matter, prior to any legal advice being provided.
“And given these circumstances I believe it is imperative that the council adopts the Common Sense proposals put forward by business and The Press and Journal before further decline of the city centre.”
Aberdeen City Council spokeswoman denied Mr Malik’s claims.
She said: “For clarity, Councillor Malik was advised of the date (July 8) of an internal legal advice document.
“Legal advice was considered by council officers ahead of a committee meeting on June 11 with ongoing legal advice where and when relevant.”
The Common Sense Compromise
In June, business owners, trade groups and The P&J came up with six points which they felt was needed for businesses to survive.
The group’s Common Sense Compromise called on the council to:
- Keep the Guild Street bus gates, along with restrictions on Schoolhill and Upperkirkgate
- Remove the bus gates at the Adelphi and Market Street, allowing access in both directions through Market Street
- Remove the bus gates on Bridge Street, allowing full access in both directions
- Remove the right turn ban on Union Terrace
- Issue a warning rather than a fine to first offenders
- Use fines to help city centre businesses via transport initiatives
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