A new date has been set for the long-awaited completion of Aberdeen’s Broad Street pedestrianisation scheme – as a political battle rages over whether to ban all vehicles from the road.
A city council spokeswoman last night confirmed the £3.2million project on the city centre road, which has been closed since last March and has suffered numerous delays, was now expected to be completed by May 14.
The local authority has planned for a “shared space” which would be open to pedestrians, buses and bikes.
But the ultimate fate of the future of the road could still be in the balance with a motion by Liberal Democrat councillor Steve Delaney on fully closing the road to traffic to be debated this month.
There has been an apparent softening of position of some leading councillors, with Aberdeen Labour deputy Taqueer Malik and Lord Provost Barney Crockett previously indicating they could back a full ban.
Mr Delaney said he hoped his motion would receive cross-party backing and was designed to be “non-political”.
He added: “We have had (pedestrianised) spaces in Aberdeen before, but they have never had to share with buses and bicycles.
“From speaking to constituents, we are concerned about the safety of general pedestrians and especially disabled people.”
SNP infrastructure spokesman Michael Hutchison hit out at the delays in the project, which had originally been scheduled for completion in October.
He said: “It’s ridiculous that we’re now looking at more than a year of closures and diversions for Broad Street.
“Many people still aren’t sure what they’ll get in Broad Street after comments from some senior councillors. It’s time the administration stopped arguing amongst itself and clarified what its position actually is.”
But council roads spokesman Ross Grant said that the shared space model “will mean the pedestrian is king while maintaining public transport links”.
Conservative council co-leader Douglas Lumsden added that the administration planned to review the full pedestrianisation after an operational period.
He said: “Our position is that we have got to get the street open again – we don’t want any more delays.
“Once open, we plan on conducting a review on how the partial pedestrianisation is working and take it from there.”
