Councils from across the north and north-east of Scotland will be asked to contribute towards the remaining cost of Aberdeen’s long-awaited Olympic-sized swimming pool.
The move follows yesterday’s Scottish Government announcement that it would pay £5million towards the £23million cost, bringing the 50-metre pool project closer than ever to becoming a reality. The pool would become part of the new regional sports complex in the city’s Linksfield area.
The SNP government’s commitment, part of Commonwealth Games legacy funding, and subject to submission of a business plan, leaves the city council and Aberdeen University just £3million short of the total required. Local authorities in Aberdeenshire, Moray, Highland, Orkney and Shetland will be asked to make up the difference.
Senior city councillor Neil Fletcher, chairman of the project’s board, said last night: “We are looking to our neighbouring local authorities, who will obviously use the facility.
“Getting to Aberdeen from Orkney or Shetland is a bit easier than going to Stirling.”
The Liberal Democrat group deputy leader said the project was now ready to move forward and that the city’s Common Good Fund could be used if other councils proved unwilling to help.
“We have a commitment from the Scottish Government for £5million, which is what we requested, and I’m delighted,” he said. “There’s obviously a lot of work still to be done, but it now means we can move forward relatively quickly – the capital funding is now effectively in place.”
Council leaders welcomed the news.
But Labour group leader Len Ironside said: “Today we have seen Alex Salmond provide money to a 50-metre pool, and while welcoming any money the Scottish Government gives us, it would be more useful to have monies channeled into the savage cuts the Lib Dem/SNP council have made in social work, the voluntary sector and the various sporting groups throughout the city.”
Councillor Fletcher reacted to the comments by calling for Labour’s representative on the project board to resign. “The success of this project has been down to co-operation between political parties and it’s disappointing that on the day of success the Labour Party is withdrawing its support,” he said.