Square plan going pear-shaped as Aberdeen fails to get behind project

PUBLIC apathy is threatening to sound the death knell for ambitious plans for a £140 million civic square in Aberdeen, the organisation spearheading the controversial development has warned.

With a day to go before the public consultation ends, only 3 per cent of the city's population have commented on the scheme being championed by oil tycoon Sir Ian Wood.

Tom Smith, the head of the local economic forum, said: "I doubt we will ever have another opportunity like this again and I hope we are not going to throw it away because people who are supportive simply did not bother to take part in the consultation."

Sir Ian, who is head of the Aberdeen-based global energy company the Wood Group, has pledged 50m of his personal fortune to create a street-level square on the site of the city's historic Union Terrace Gardens. But he has threatened to walk away from the project unless the people of Aberdeen back the scheme.

The proposals have been dogged by controversy since they were first announced. Aberdeen-born pop legend Annie Lennox attacked the scheme as "idiocy and madness".

The country's architectural watchdog, Architecture and Design Scotland, expressed serious reservations and Aberdeen-based Peacock Visual Arts, which has secured planning approval to a build a new contemporary arts centre in the gardens, has also voiced their opposition. More than 8,000 people have signed a petition calling for the scheme to be scrapped. But it is understood that only around 7,500 people have submitted views during the two-month public consultation.

Aberdeen City and Shire Economic Future (ACSEF), the public and private sector partnership driving the plans forward, now fears the city will lose out unless the people of Aberdeen voice their support before tonight's midnight deadline.

Mr Smith said: "Sir Ian Wood's 50m towards a radical transformation of the city centre is conditional on the people of Aberdeen wanting it. If there is not enough support, he will withdraw his funding. With over 97 per cent of the population not expressing a view, it is going to be a challenge to know what the public really thinks."

Sir Ian also issued an 11th hour appeal to the public to make their views known.

He said: "This was never a vanity project nor any kind of commercial project. Effectively it represents a 140m investment to develop a major new civic asset for the benefit of the city. It was always appropriate that a project of this scale went to public consultation. Without yet knowing the result, I hope a significant number have expressed their views."

He added: "I would not like to see such a huge opportunity lost by apathy… However, if that is what happens, the real losers will be the next generation of citizens of Aberdeen."

Katie Guthrie, the co-founder of the protest campaign, said: "The response to the petition has been overwhelming and it appears that a great deal of Aberdonians really care about saving their historic and beautiful gardens.

"They are a defining feature of Aberdeen. The idea of removing them has been rejected three times in the past and we hope that now, in the 21st century, we can retain, rejuvenate and celebrate the great things we have in our city, including this rare green space."