Brexit campaigners have branded as “speculative” a report claiming Aberdeenshire Council has been left with an £11million black hole, after the vote to leave the European Union.
The local authority has carried out a full assessment of the impacts of June’s EU referendum, identifying initiatives made possible by secured European funds which are now hanging in the balance.
The future of projects aimed at tackling poverty and boosting the fishing industry are among those facing uncertainty.
This includes a sum of £1,437,000, allocated to the North East Scotland Fisheries Local Action Group and Grassroots Leader funding worth £6,121,979, set aside to facilitate community-led developments.
Yesterday the council’s policy and resources committee reviewed the report and agreed to seek a further report on the implications of Brexit.
The report also stated the local fishing industry “may benefit” from “reduced regulation”, but added the processing sector which has dealings with the EU could be negatively impacted.
It added that jobs within the council could be lost and the implications on the likes of farming subsidies was still unknown.
However, the man who co-ordinated the Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire Vote Leave campaign, Ryan Houghton, said all of the secured EU-funded projects would be safe-guarded until 2020.
He added: “We need to be lobbying to make sure these funding projects get secured.
“I am not going to call it scare mongering, it is obviously right that reports like that are carried out.
“But the likes of fishing and farming will be coming back to Holyrood. Aberdeenshire is going to benefit hugely from that.
“We’ll be lifted from a lot of EU regulations. They can obviously assess what EU funding they receive, that is correct and that is what they have done, but anything past that is literally putting your finger in the wind.
“The focus should be on what we can get out of it.”
Banff and District councillor, John Cox, said: “The report is a very doom and gloom presentation built on assumptions.
“There are significant opportunities and I will be asking the council to put more thought on looking at these opportunities after Brexit.”
