Supreme Court will rule on Milne

The UK’s highest court has been asked to decide whether a building firm run by a football club chairman owes a local authority around £1.7 million.

A panel of five Supreme Court justices was hearing evidence in a contract dispute between the Stewart Milne Group – which is run by Aberdeen chairman Stewart Milne – and Aberdeen City Council.

Council bosses say the construction firm, which is based in Aberdeen, owes the cash under the terms of a land deal.

The Stewart Milne Group disagrees.

Scottish judges have ruled in favour of the council and the Stewart Milne Group has appealed to the Supreme Court. Lord Hope, Lady Hale, Lord Mance, Lord Kerr and Lord Clarke were analysing legal arguments from lawyers representing both sides at a hearing in London yesterday.

The panel was told that the council had agreed to sell land in Westhill, Aberdeen, to the Stewart Milne Group in 2004. The land was part of a bigger development site.

Mr Milne established the Stewart Milne Group in 1975, employing six people, and today the firm has some 1,000 employees.

The Stewart Milne Group website says Mr Milne launched his business career in 1971, when he was 21. He became chairman of Aberdeen – now second from bottom of the Scottish Premier League – in 1998.

In September, Mr Milne apologised to fans in a club statement after a Scottish Communities League Cup defeat to East Fife.

The panel reserved judgment to a date to be fixed.