Anger at £2m loan from cash-crisis council

Published on Monday 29 September 2008 22:24

CASH-strapped Aberdeen City Council was embroiled in a row yesterday after it was revealed it may provide a £2 million loan to bail out the city's main conference and entertainment venue.

A confidential report, to be discussed by councillors today, recommends that the authority should approve the loan to the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre as the council-owned venue struggles to deal with 16 million of debt.

In 2005-6 the centre was given a 7.5 million development loan by the council, which already owned 81 per cent of the business. The authority then spent 315,000 on the remaining shares and took over the centre.

It has now been revealed that the centre's board of directors have asked for short-term financial support to further assist the venue. And the report by senior council officials warns: "No action is not an option."

Willie Young, the secretary of the Labour group, condemned the proposed loan at a time when the council was facing 50 million in spending cuts.