The Scottish Government has ruled out contributing to a multi-million pound upgrade of Aberdeen’s Union Terrace Gardens.
In a response to a parliamentary question from Conservative MSP Ross Thomson, local government minister Kevin Stewart said the city council will be solely responsible for the city centre masterplan.
Mr Thomson, also a Tory councillor in the city, had suggested that the SNP government may support the £17million proposals for UTG, in light of the downturn in the local economy.
Former First Minister Alex Salmond had previously given his vocal backing to the City Garden Project in 2012.
Last month it was announced that the city council has brought in LDA Design, behind London’s Olympic Park, to redesign the city centre park.
Plans for the garden could now include an amphitheatre, a bridge linking Belmont Street and Union Terrace, with shops and galleries being placed in the arches.
But Mr Stewart said the council would have to pay for the project itself.
He wrote: “Earlier this year the Scottish Government announced a £254million infrastructure package for the north-east on top of the commitment to provide 50:50 funding for the Aberdeen City Region Deal.
“In addition, the Scottish Government has established a number of different funds which addresses specific areas of regeneration activity and Aberdeen has thus far benefited from two rounds of the £25million Regeneration Capital Grant Fund.”
But Mr Thomson said: “I am aware of broader commitments made as part of the Aberdeen City Region Deal, but this is something specific to the city centre, which the SNP nationally have previously supported.
“Improving the heart of Aberdeen will be a key part in attracting and retaining the workers that we need to maintain a successful economy in the north-east.
“Given the scale of job losses in Aberdeen, it could be argued that the downturn here has national significance – it certainly has had a major impact on the national balance sheet.
“It is disappointing, therefore, that the Minister has flatly refused the possibility of the Scottish Government making a contribution.”
But Aberdeen South MP Callum McCaig said the intervention from Mr Thomson was “astonishing” as he had not mentioned the project when the city deal was negotiated earlier in the year.
The SNP member said: “If this regeneration is of such vital importance, you think he may have mentioned it at some point during those conversations.
“People in Aberdeen will see this for what it is, council leaders expecting to pay for their own organisational incompetence
with an 11th hour hand out from the Scottish Government.”
