Aberdeen council chiefs have performed a U-turn and dropped their threat of legal action against Police Scotland’s controversial plan to merge two local divisions.
Aberdeen City Council backed a motion to formally oppose the move at an urgent business committee meeting in November.
Councillor Gordon Graham proposed the motion in a meeting which had emotions running at boiling point.
At the meeting, he raised concerns about the pooling of high-ranking officers across the divisions.
Councillors also asked legal chiefs to look at mounting a judicial challenge to the merger.
In January, the new north-east division was created by police chiefs following the merger of the Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire and Moray divisions.
Last night Mastrick councillor Mr Graham did not wish to comment on change of stance by the authority.
But opposition councillor Martin Greig branded the council turnaround as a “disappointment”.
He said: “I’m sorry that the process is not concluding.
“I supported the proposal that came before the committee because I thought the police merger decision had been poorly supported.
“The proposal was a suitable way of showing our concern for a decision that is not only dubious but also highly unpopular with the public.”
But Superintendent George MacDonald of Police Scotland said that community engagement had been part of the original plan.
He said: “Police Scotland’s decision to move to a single division to cover the north-east rightly was the subject of engagement with community and other interested parties across the area.
“While acknowledging that it is for the chief constable to decide the divisional structure within which the direction and control of police officers is carried out, the decision to proceed was subject to consideration and oversight by the SPA (Scottish Police Authority).
“The SPA Board were satisfied that appropriate local engagement had taken place and that any issues raised had been considered by Police Scotland and reflected in the revised plans.
“These included the retention of the new divisional headquarters within Aberdeen city and dedicated senior resource to support partnership working across the various sectors, building on the excellent work which had already been established prior to the creation of the division.”
An Aberdeen City Council spokeswoman said: “No judicial review will be sought on this matter.”