Controversial budget cuts which will close a number of council services in Aberdeen have been widely opposed with more than 30,000 names added to protest petitions.
The city council is targeting sports facilities and schools for closure while cutting services for disabled people in a desperate bid to balance its books.
Politicians last night praised the public’s opposition to the £27million of cutbacks, insisting it proved how unpopular the Lib Dem/SNP administration has now become.
Campaigners for groups which would be affected have already gained at least 36,000 signatures through a mixture of online and paper petitions. Thousands of locals have also flooded websites with messages of support.
Aberdeen North Labour MP Frank Doran said: “I think this is a tremendous reaction and shows the massive public support for the people and groups impacted by these decisions.
“The people of Aberdeen are sending out a message to the councillors who have made this decision that they are not happy.”
Jim Farquharson, a Tory councillor, said: “Quite frankly I think the administration has made the wrong decision and many people will have to suffer for it. It is very encouraging to see this kind of reaction and I hope it can have a positive affect.”
Council leader Kate Dean last night insisted it had no option but to make the cuts.
She said: “I am not surprised there has been this sort of reaction because it is a very emotive issue. However, what we are doing is providing a similar service offered by other local authorities in Scotland.
“What we had been doing previously is offering services that went way beyond what is expected of a local authority and that is simply not sustainable.”
The Lib Dem councillor added that decisions to cut services would not be reversed, but said the administration would look at “other ways of helping”.
Pensioner George Pettifer, who has been using the closure-threatened Bon Accord Baths for 15 years, will today deliver a petition of just under 13,000 signatures to councillors.
“I am delighted with the response,” said the 79-year-old. “I think it is absolutely wrong for the council to do this so we have to take this action to try and save these much-needed facilities.
“Like most of the other groups threatened with the council cuts, we have set up online petitions as well as collecting signatures on the street. It is difficult to know what impact it can have but we have to try and do what we can to save our services.”
Campaigners working to save closure-threatened Doonies Farm in the south of the city have collected more than 5,000 signatures, both online and on the streets.
John Sleigh, co-ordinator of the Doonies campaign, added: “We feel that things are going quite well and are delighted with the way the public have supported us. The council cuts have come as a real surprise to us and we are just doing what we can to raise awareness. We think they have made the wrong decision.”
Last night, a mixture of online petitions had more than 8,000 signatures against the axeing of funding for Glencraft and around 150 for Choices. More than 6,000 have signed an online petition against the closure of Linx Ice Arena, while more than 1,500 have signed an online petition against a reduction of funding going to homeless charity Aberdeen Cyrenians.
Around 700 signatures have also been added to an online petition against the closure of city schools, while thousands of names have been added to the wide-range of paper petitions.