Labour threatens to tear up Aberdeen’s Union Terrace garden project

ABERDEEN’S new Labour-dominated administration announced plans yesterday for a crunch vote that could signal the end of plans for a £140 million transformation of the city’s Union Terrace Gardens.

The divisive project to develop the city garden, which is being championed by oil tycoon Sir Ian Wood, has already won narrow public approval in a city-wide referendum.

• View the architect’s plans for the gardens

But the Labour group, now part of a coalition administration with the Conservatives and Independents running Aberdeen City Council, confirmed yesterday that they will be calling for the scheme to be scrapped, in line with their election manifesto. The decision is expected to be made next month.

At a press conference, Sir Ian made an impassioned plea for the “once in a lifetime” scheme to be kept on track.

Willie Young, the Labour group secretary, said: “Our message to Sir Ian was that we would be standing by our manifesto commitment to stop the project. We plan to bring this to a vote as quickly as we possibly can because we could be spending thousands of pounds we don’t need to if we don’t make an early decision.”