Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Campaigners gagged as council votes to plough ahead with Aberdeen pool and library closures

A last-ditch bid to save Bucksburn Swimming Pool and six city libraries has been rejected.

Aberdeen campaigners were left silenced in a major meeting.
Aberdeen campaigners were left silenced as cuts were cemented today. Image: Kami Thomson/DC Thomson

Campaigners have said ruling Aberdeen councillors “should be ashamed” after being gagged as controversial cuts were cemented.

Dozens of protestors gathered outside the Town House before an urgent meeting on savings that were voted through by the SNP and Liberal Democrat ruling group at the start of the month.

Cries of “save our pools!” and “shame on ACC!” rang out along Broad Street as members entered the building.

Pool campaigners were not silenced when they gathered in Aberdeen city centre on Monday morning. Image: Kami Thomson/DC Thomson

The campaigners had rallied to fight for Bucksburn Swimming Pool and six city libraries due to shut within days.

They were left gagged just minutes after the crunch talks got underway, with their request to talk refused.

While 19 councillors voted to let them address the room, the Nationalist and Lib Dem coalition had the deciding say with a majority of 24 against it.

Image: Roddie Reid/DC Thomson

Even holding aloft “zipped up” emoji signs in a silent show of defiance raised the ire of local authority leaders.

Lord Provost David Cameron blasted this as “disruption”, and vowed to have anyone holding up signs again thrown out.

Protestors gathered in Aberdeen city centre on Saturday afternoon as well.

What happened during the meeting?

The summit had been called by opposition politicians desperate to undo some of the more controversial decisions made at the March 1 meeting.

They argued there was money available in the council’s “contingency budget”.

Labour group leader Barney Crockett summed the talks up as “trying to reopen the process” after locals rose up with “massive concerns” about some cuts.

After hours of scrutiny, every cut agreed weeks ago was solidified in the second vote today, with the administration winning by 24-21.

Mr Crockett is fighting the closure of Bucksburn swimming pool. Image: Kenny Elrick/DC Thomson

That means Bucksburn Swimming Pool will still close its doors for the final time on Sunday, April 16.

Cults, Kaimhill, Woodside, Northfield, Cornhill and Ferryhill libraries will all be locked up by the end of the week.

After the campaigners were denied the chance to speak, Mr Cameron scolded them for issuing shouts of “shame!” from the public gallery.

The SNP councillor said the cries “made it hard to run a meeting”.

‘We closed libraries and cut sports cash to save teachers’

The administration’s finance convener, Alex McLellan, began by stressing how difficult the decisions had been to make.

To illustrate his point, he said that alternative savings plans put forward by their rivals could have put education at risk.

Options to slash teaching hours, cut cleaning and axe music lessons were all on the table.

SNP council finance convener Alex McLellan spoke with campaigners outside the Town House ahead of the budget meeting. This year, he confirmed Sport Aberdeen would receive £700,000 less - forcing the closure of Bucksburn pool and the entire Beach Leisure Centre. Image: Kenny Elrick/DC Thomson.
SNP council finance convener Alex McLellan spoke with campaigners outside the Town House ahead of the budget meeting on March 1. Image: Kenny Elrick/DC Thomson.

The SNP’s Neil Copland said it was unfortunate that libraries were “victims” in the budget process.

But he said projects aimed at alleviating poverty were given priority, explaining: “Given the choice… I’m feeding the kids.”

‘How could you not make this a priority?’

After the news broke about Bucksburn Swimming Pool closing, operators Sport Aberdeen explained that council bosses knew that it would close if a £687,000 cut was voted through.

Conservative group leader Ryan Houghton blasted council leaders for failing to have plans in place to mitigate the losses of the pool and libraries.

He said: “One in four pupils in Scotland leave school not knowing how to swim… And we have the highest rate of drowning in the entire UK.

“How could you not make this a priority?”

For refusing to allow campaigners to speak, he added: “You should be ashamed of yourself.”

‘We had taken annual leave for this’

Kirsty Fraser has ploughed hours into the community effort to save Bucksburn Swimming Pool since the closure was announced weeks ago.

Her campaign group even secured a £50,000 pledge from Wood to cover costs, in the event it could have a future.

Kirsty Fraser has been leading the Bucksburn campaign. Image: Kami Thomson/DC Thomson

Kirsty was left “extremely disappointed” at not being allowed to share their findings at today’s meeting.

Speaking afterwards, she said: “We have so many questions that need to be heard.

“By stopping us speaking, they are trying to save their own faces. They don’t have answers to the points we are raising.”

Protestors held up signs protesting the decision to silence them. Image: Kami Thomson/DC Thomson

Silenced Aberdeen campaigners ‘won’t be walked over’

Hayden Lorimer, who lives along from Woodside Library, has been leading a crusade to save the six soon-to-be mothballed venues.

“They are unwilling to engage with communities who are going to be affected by this,” he said.

“That’s been their approach for weeks.”

Bucksburn protestors made their thoughts known. Image: Kami Thomson/DC Thomson

Leaders blasted for ‘political sneering’

Labour’s Nurul Hoque Ali condemned the “attempt to gag the public”.

He added: “The good people of Aberdeen will not be walked over.”

His colleague Ross Grant said the move to “shut down accountability” was “shameful”.

And Mr Grant accused leaders of deflecting attention from the cuts by instead starting “political” squabbles in the chambers.

He added: “We have had political sneering from members of the administration when we wanted solutions.

“We don’t want political games or ‘he said, she said’. There’s been nothing but politics, politics, politics.”

You can watch the meeting here.

Conversation