Fears over future of £140m gardens project

DOUBTS over the future of Aberdeen’s £140 million scheme for the transformation of Union Terrace Gardens were raised last night after Labour forged an alliance with the Conservatives and Independents to run the city council.

The Labour group, back in power in the Granite City for the first time in nine years, made an election manifesto pledge to pull the plug on plans to turn the Victorian gardens into a new civic square in the heart of the city.

Barney Crockett, the new leader of the coalition administration, said yesterday that support for Labour’s opposition to the project had not been part of the new power sharing agreement with the three Conservatives and three-strong independent Alliance on the council. Last night, Tom Smith, chairman of the local economic forum ACSEF, voiced his concerns about the future of the gardens plan which is being championed by oil tycoon Sir Ian Wood, who has pledged £50m towards it.

Mr Smith said that the City Garden was a “once in a lifetime project” and warned that dropping plans to develop the area would be a “major missed opportunity”.