Plans for an Aberdeen cable car appear to be hanging by a thread – prompting fears the city will appear closed to private investment as a huge regeneration project is mapped out.
Multi-million-pound proposals for a cableway were revealed by The Press And Journal in April.
Private firm Skyline, enlisted to pitch the scheme by Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce, suggested the city could underwrite its yearly income by £1.045m in exchange for building it.
It would run a half-mile line from the Queen’s Links up to the Beach Boulevard roundabout.
Aberdeen cable car was hoped to be first of raft of private firms investing in city’s regeneration
Councillors agreed a shortlist of projects to be taken forward in the first wave of work in the £150 million city centre and beach facelift this week.
And the Conservatives used the cable car as the flag bearer for other zany ideas which might be brought forward; a chance for Aberdeen to open the door to suggestions.
They proposed a tweak to make it clear the council “welcomed any full business cases from private sector partners around modes of transport – including, but not limited to, the possibility of a cable car system”.
But the ruling SNP and Lib Dem coalition were unconvinced, accusing the Tories of a shaky stance on public cash being put into private mobility projects.
They have already ruled out any possibility of spending taxpayer funds on Skyline’s plans.
Conservatives want Aberdeen to be ‘open to new ideas’ like cable car and trams plans
Conservative Duncan Massey said: “It is really just to make clear that we would welcome any substantive proposals from the private sector. Substantive… also substantially funded.
“That should include any imaginative ideas such as a cable car system, other ideas I’ve heard recently are a tram from Holburn Junction to the beach.
“It’s just to ensure that people know that we are open to new ideas.”
His mention of trams was leapt upon by long-time proponent Marie Boulton, the former city centre masterplan lead.
“I think there’s a real opportunity here and it’s about breaking that barrier people perceive of the Castlegate being to access to the beach,” she said.
Cable car plans sparked furious Aberdeen City Council debate
At Thursday’s meeting, calls led by the Conservatives to look at reopening the Castlegate to buses were accepted by the administration.
Proposed masterplan branding was also scrapped after a Labour-led public dismantling.
But SNP council co-leader Alex Nicoll brought heat to the otherwise unusually collegiate Town House meet.
He probed the Conservatives’ suggested city contribution to projects like the cable car or trams, if private plans were to emerge.
Mr Nicoll poked the Tories for their budgeting, prompting fury from the group’s deputy leader as the nationalist chief derided their proposals to borrow tens of millions to balance Aberdeen’s books.
Councillor Richard Brooks said his colleagues were “starting to come around” to backing the SNP and Lib Dem plans for the beach – until that was said.
“It once again demonstrated the lack of financial acumen from the SNP-led administration, to the point where I think we have lost confidence,” he raged.
“When you have private investment and private investors, it’s exactly that.
“You have a footprint for a tram station or for a cable car which will be leased to the private company.
“There will be a private company investment understanding, not a joint venture. It is exactly what it says on the tin… private investment.”
Council co-leader Yuill: ‘If I can speak to Michael Gove, I’ll talk to anybody’
But Mr Nicoll’s Lib Dem co-leader Ian Yuill said the fury had only “mixed messages” further.
“Councillor Massey spoke about [a potential cable car scheme] being substantially funded by the private sector but then Councillor Brooks talked about it being leased to the private sector.
“Those are very different things.”
But he dismissed concerns he and the SNP were closed to outside help, having met with Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove – who hinted at more incoming UK Government cash for Aberdeen – earlier in the month.
Mr Yuill added: “I can assure you, we will talk with anyone – whoever they are – if it has the potential to benefit our city and its residents.
“If I can sit down with Michael Gove and have a conversation with him – and I’m not a big fan of Mr Gove’s strand of Conservativism – I’ll talk to anybody.”
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