Accountants add firepowerto gardens campaigners

Four independent accountancy firms have backed claims that the transformation of Aberdeen’s Union Terrace Gardens could create more than 6,000 jobs and boost the economy by at least £122 million a year.

The claims, made in a report to Aberdeen City Council and based on research carried out by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, had been challenged by opposition group, Friends of Union Terrace Gardens, which claimed the projections were flawed and that there was no evidence to back the figures.

However, the firms, Johnston Carmichael, Ritson Smith, Hall Morrice and Anderson, and Anderson Brown, have jointly written to the Aberdeen City Gardens Trust, supporting the economic impact assessments.

Colin Crosby, trust director, said: “This dispels the claims being made by objectors with no economic analysis expertise.

“The regeneration, unlocked by the City Garden Project, will bring forward new commercial developments which will, in turn, attract new business and new investment as well as enabling the growth of existing businesses and the creation of jobs. As the new businesses move in to these new offices, they will employ people and that’s where the jobs will come from.”