A row has broken out over council claims that implementing Scottish Government Gaelic legislation could cost “millions”.
Local authority chiefs insisted a new five-year plan under the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005 would leave taxpayers with a bill for at least £1million just to replace signs.
But angry opposition councillors accused the Labour-led administration of “making up bogus figures”.
The act was brought in by the then-Labour-Liberal Democrat Scottish Executive in 2005 to promote Gaelic as an “official language of Scotland”.
As part of the Gaelic Language Plan 2016-21, local authority vehicle liveries would have to be changed and a bilingual council logo created – despite just 0.8% of the city’s residents speaking the language.
The council’s education convener Angela Taylor said 56 pupils in total were studying Gaelic at city schools – 41 in primaries and 15 in secondaries.
The Labour-led administration’s transport spokesman Councillor Ross Grant said: “As a result of the legislation, Aberdeen City Council will be required to commit hundreds of thousands of pounds to include Gaelic on our road signs and local authority signs.
“Naturally, with the added text, the signs need to be larger, the supporting steel posts and foundations will be larger and this will all come at considerable cost.
“In these austere times, Aberdeen City Council is working hard to make best use of the money we receive and it is incredibly frustrating that we will need to ring-fence funds to carry out these works, money that could otherwise be invested on things such as our road network.”
But SNP finance spokesman at the town house Graham Dickson said: “The report itself says there will be minimum additional cost.
“The Scottish Parliament voted unanimously for this legislation so for Labour and Conservative politicians to now criticise it is the utmost hypocrisy.”
Gaelic language body Bòrd na Gàidhlig said in a statement: “Aberdeen has a growing Gaelic community and the Gaelic language plan aims to ensure that this continues to be the case, in a reasonable and proportionate manner.
“Signage is replaced periodically due to normal wear and tear, and replacement of these offers a good opportunity to include some Gaelic at little additional cost and not millions of pounds.”
