Scores of people flocked to a public exhibition yesterday to have their say on plans to relocate Aberdeen Football Club’s stadium.
The Dons want to leave Pittodrie to move to a new £40million stadium to the west of the city at Kingsford, between Kingswells and Westhill.
Yesterday, local residents and football fans from further afield attended the first consultation in Kingswells, and viewed images of how the stadium could look.
As well as housing 20,000 fans, there would be training facilities, a football academy, a pavilion containing offices and a gym.
There would also be a heritage museum charting the club’s iconic history as well as a “red cafe” and a memorial garden.
Yesterday, Aberdeen FC’s vice-chairman George Yule said he hoped the consultation events would help address some of the concerns of those against the proposals, who believe the development would cause major traffic and parking problems.
He said: “I am supporting the stadium proposals, not just as the vice-chairman of Aberdeen FC, but as a citizen of the area and as a parent.
“As a region we’ve been complacent about areas beyond oil and gas.
“We have seen the fall in the oil price that unemployment and job cuts have risen.
“I’ve been fortunate to grow up with oil and gas on my doorstep but we need to think of future generations.
“We are taking part in consultation with schools and businesses in Kingswells and Westhill, they ask us what’s in it for us and we say what do you need?
“We have to meet people with valid concerns, not some of the speculation that is going about.
He added that there had been numerous other developments in the area in recent years.
He said: “I moved to Westhill in 1981 when it was known as the garden suburb.
“It is no longer the garden suburb, it’s had an industrial park and a retail park and in Kingswells we’ve had Prime Four.”
The next consultation will be held on Friday from 1pm-8pm at the Holiday Inn on Westhill Drive.
Next week they will be held on Tuesday from 1pm-8pm in Pittodrie, from noon to 6pm the following day in the Trinity Centre, and from noon to 5pm in the Central Library on Friday.
On August 8, a further consultation will take place in Pittodrie from 2pm-8pm.