Fifteen councillors backed my proposal that the coucnil should contnue not to spend any money on the City Gardens scheme before – and if – people back the City Gardens scheme in the referendum. Sadly they were not enough.

My proposal was:

That this Council agrees:

1. To note the outcome of the ‘City Gardens’ design competition.

2. That it would be inappropriate for the Council to take any action which would appear to pre-empt the result of the referendum on 1st March.

3. That the Council will therefore not progress any matters or incur any expenditure related to the ‘City Gardens’ scheme – except those directly linked to the conduct of the referendum – before the outcome of that referendum is known.

4. To instruct officers to report to a future meeting of the council on the implications of the result of the referendum once that result is known.

5. To otherwise note the report.

Aberdeen citizens will be asked in a postal referendum whether the support either retaining Union Terrace Gardens or the proposed City Gardens scheme.

I initially objected to the council paying for a referendum with money that could otherwise be invested in education, social care and other services but, now that Sir Ian Wood has offered to pay £200,000  towards the cost,  I believe it is right to ask each Aberdeen citizen their view on the future of Union Terrace Gardens.

I hope as many people as possible vote in the referendum about the future shape of our city centre.

You can view his entire post here.

300 soldiers from the Highlanders, 4th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland paraded along Union Street at lunchtime today (1st December) applauded by Aberdeen citizens.

It was great to see so many local people taking the time to line Union Street and applaud the Highlanders as they passed.

You can learn more about the consultation – and take part in it – but visiting Transport Scotland’s website or the mobile version of their website.

The Committee asked council staff for further information on the costs and feasibility of an independently conducted opinion poll as an alternative way of judging the level of public support for the project.

I remain convinced that Union Terrace Gardens should be retained and enhanced – not obliterated. I also believe the Peacock project should have been allowed to proceed as this would have helped revitalise Union Terrace Gardens without destroying them.

I believe it was a mistake for those organising the recent competition on the six short-listed designs not to include an “option seven”, the retention of Union Terrace Gardens. As a member of the Council’s City Gardens Monitoring Board I argued for an option seven to be included. This would have allowed people to judge the level of support for retaining Union Terrace Garden relative to the six short-listed designs.

I believe that it is very important to accurately determine the views of Aberdeen citizens and that this can be achieved through either a referendum or a professionally and independently conducted opinion poll.

My preference would be for an opinion poll where the wording of the question is agreed by the City Gardens Trust AND Friends of Union Terrace Gardens.

A referendum would be very costly and I understand the City Gardens Trust and the Scottish Government have both made it clear they will not pay for one. I do not believe the council can justify spending £250,000 on a referendum when that money could have been spent on front line services like education and social care.

I felt it was vital that the code recognised the rights of employees as citizens (which the version proposed by council staff did not) as well as their responsibilities as employees. I was also concerned the version proposed by staff focused too heavily on the use of social networking sites.

As approved, the new section of the Employee Code of Conduct is:

Balancing Rights and Responsibilities
Citizens have the right to participate in the public life of our community. Employees have a responsibility to the council as their employer and to all those they come into contact with in the course of their employment. Employees must take account of both their rights and responsibilities when interacting with others, including at times when they are not working. It is unacceptable to make, publish or post defamatory or generally unacceptable comments, views or information about the Council, its employees, clients or customers (including school pupils) in any medium including social networking sites. In addition, it is also unacceptable to publish any photographs of clients or customers in same without first obtaining formal permission. This applies even when you are at home on your own computer or using another electronic device. 

You may view the report prepared for the meeting by council staff here.

You may view stv’s report on this issue here.

Ian Yuill said “Since I first proposed creating a long distance footpath from Aberdeen to Perthshire earlier this year, it has become very clear that there is strong support for the idea from all along the proposed route.

“Very importantly, there are already footpaths along much of the route and that will keep down the cost of creating it.

“Once established, a long distance footpath would attract more visitors to our area and benefit businesses all along the route.”

Councillor Ian Yuill, who first proposed the council invest an extra £1 million on road and pavement repairs, said “This is great news for people across Aberdeen who will see extra repair work to pavements and roads.”