Aberdeen Against Austerity

Aberdeen Against Austerity and Friends of UTG will be holding a meeting at the Trades Council Social Club in the Adelphi at 7.30pm on Tuesday 31st January. As well as having information on the save UTG campaign, they will be looking for volunteers to hand out leaflets or chap on doors.

Aberdeen Against Austerity believes that there have been many myths surrounding the CGP. We hope in this booklet to dispel some of these for you.

•   The creation of 6500 jobs will only happen when the full city
development is complete. Many of these jobs will be low paid, low status
positions with few opportunities.

No one has yet decided who will cover any overrun in building costs.

•   We already have an ice rink, an art gallery, a dance space, cinema,
theatre, and an assortment of music venues in close proximity to UTG. What will
become of them?

•   The city council have no concrete ideas as to the direction they would

like to take the cities cultural services in, so how can we plan a cultural
centre when we don’t know what is going to happen.

•    The real prize is the development of the Denburn Valley not UTG, with
the proposed development extending beyond the gardens and across the Denburn
and Woolmanhill.

•    The area will require a large retail development to pay for the £70 million TIF.

•     If local businessman Ian Wood truly wanted a legacy worthy of a city
like Aberdeen, then he could perhaps develop the broad street area made vacant
by the removal of Aberdeen City Council’s former headquarters St. Nicholas
House. What better place to build a civic square then opposite the newly
refurbished Marischal College.

A recent report conducted by WWF Scotland identified at least three city centre locations that should be of serious concern and are in breach of EU pollution targets. Therefore, as trees act like a sponge, soaking up traffic pollutants, we should do whatever we can to protect the mature trees in the gardens, some of which are almost 200 years old. Yet, the proposed City Garden Project will
remove a population of mature trees from the city centre. The problem is acknowledged in the Technical Feasibility Study for the project.
 

“Removal of mature trees and existing ecological habitat; 78 mature trees would be lost including 17 mature Elm trees The ecological value of these trees would take decades to replace as many of the trees are up to 200 years old and could live for another 400 years.”