A furious row broke out last night after Aberdeen City Council’s finance chief accused the Scottish Government of stealing workers from a key infrastructure project.
Councillor Willie Young wrote online that the reason behind the recently announced seven-week delay to the Third Don crossing was because Holyrood “stole all the contractors to deal with the AWPR”.
But last night an angry city MSP hit back at Mr Young – who has an active social media account – and described him as a “loose cannon” who was “deflecting attention from himself and administration”.
The row broke out on day it emerged council bosses – including chief executive Angela Scott and leader Jenny Laing – are being hauled before a Holyrood committee, after the authority was accused of snubbing a meeting yesterday.
And although Mr Young often has online spats with political opponents, and protesters against the controversial Marischal Square project this latest rant was directed at the Scottish Government.
It erupted after the Bridge of Don councillor was asked on Twitter why the £18million Don crossing was being delayed by seven weeks.
He responded: “Scottish Government’s fault, they stole all the contractors to deal with the AWPR, hope that helps”.
The council announced the delay on Tuesday, and blamed difficulties rerouting underground utilities.
Last night furious Aberdeen Donside MSP Mark McDonald suggested the message was a way of deflecting attention, and insisted it would not “make sense” for workers to be moved around on the joint projects.
He said: “The idea that the government are pinching workers from the crossing for the AWPR is total nonsense.
“It would effectively mean that the council were pinching their own workers.
“We can see this is another fictional scenario created by Councillor Young in a desperate attempt to deflect attention from himself and his administration.”
Speaking last night, Mr Young clarified that although his Tweet referred to contractors, he intended to refer to utility companies who are having their resources split between the two projects.
He also blamed confusion on the number of letters allowed per post on the social media platform.
He said: “You’ve got to read the Tweet in context. You’ve only got 140 characters.”
The finance convener also defended his position of “all the contractors” being “stolen” by the Scottish Government, despite Transport Scotland not confirming the full extent of utility diversions.
Mr Young added: “From my point of view, ‘all’ means that all of the people we had have been moved across to the AWPR.
“It depends on your interpretation of ‘all’, but my interpretation of ‘all’ is at that particular time everybody moved from our contract to their contract.
“We’ve got two major projects in the city. One is the AWPR, and one is the Third Don Crossing.
“They want to move the AWPR on as quick as they can, which means there will be a delay at the Third Don Crossing. It’s not a criticism, it’s just a fact of reality.
“They’re got their knickers in a twist for nothing.”
A Transport Scotland spokesman last night said a large number of utilities are currently being re-routed towards the AWPR project.
The spokesman said: “There are a significant number of utility diversions underway on the AWPR/Balmedie to Tipperty project.
“Following liaison with the contractor, utility companies determine the appropriate level of resources for the project.
“A regular forum has been established with the utility companies to allow the planning and co-ordination of the AWPR/Balmedie to Tipperty diversion works.”