Councillors in Aberdeen have been asked to throw a financial lifeline to an arts group which is embroiled in a battle over the future of the city centre.
Peacock Visual Arts’ plans to create a £13million centre in Union Terrace Gardens could be over next week, unless the local authority agrees to continue its funding.
Aberdeen City Council officials have urged finance committee members to keep supporting the group with £3,040 a month until the end of May.
The move comes amid continuing uncertainty over its plans for a new centre as the consultation continues into Sir Ian Wood’s vision of creating a £140million civic square on the site of the gardens.
The oil services tycoon announced the proposal as Peacock was about to begin work on its new base, which was to be built into the slope of the Victorian park.
Funding from the council would come from the £3million contribution to the scheme which it had already approved but capped, and would pay the wages of one full-time member of Peacock’s fundraising team, and one part-time staff member.
In a report, council arts strategist Lesley Thomson said: “A decision not to continue the funding for the team until the results of the city square public consultation are known will significantly impact on the future of the organisation.”
Opposition Labour group spokesman Willie Young urged the committee to continue backing Peacock.
“There is no guarantee that Sir Ian Wood’s project will be acceptable to the people of Aberdeen because it’s still out for consultation,” he said.
“It is important that the two projects are on a level playing field.”
A spokeswoman for Peacock Visual Arts would not comment last night.
Fraser Denholm, from the I Heart UTG campaign, which has collected more than 5,000 signatures on a petition against the civic square proposal, said: “We shouldn’t be at this stage where the council should have to give Peacock more money to survive.
“If the other scheme hadn’t come about they would have broken ground and the centre would have almost been completed by now.”
Aberdeen residents have been given until March 5 to give their verdict on the way they want the city centre to look for decades to come.
Sir Ian has pledged £50million to turn his city square vision into a reality and has won the backing of city business leaders in the process.