Aberdonians to get vote on gardens

The public will be asked whether they want a planned £140 million redesign to go ahead. A decision on two competing designs is expected in January and the referendum results will follow in March.

Members of the city council voted 27-12 yesterday to hold the referendum rather than an opinion poll.

The authority backed the scheme to transform the gardens into a civic square in May last year, despite a public consultation of 12,000 people which showed 55 per cent did not support the development.

Businessman Sir Ian Wood has pledged £50m of his money to the project and has given the Aberdeen City Gardens Trust £400,000 to fund a design competition. Sir Ian has also agreed to cover 80 per cent of the referendum costs, which could be as much as £250,000.

A report for the meeting said a poll of 1,000 or 2,000 people would be “perfectly acceptable”. But the authority’s economic director Gerry Brough added: “An opinion poll, although less expensive and potentially more statistically representative, is a non-democratic process.”