Agenda item

With reference to the minute of meeting of the Council of 26 April 2023, the Committee had before it a Notice of Motion by Councillor Boulton in the following terms:-

That the Committee agrees to:-

(1)      (a) instruct the Chief Officer - Commercial and Procurement to delay the award of a construction contract until 2024/25, at the earliest, the following elements of the Beach Master Plan subject to the Full Business Cases being approved:-

·            The Urban Park, Events Park and Broadhill, shifting up to £13m of Capital expenditure from 2023/24 to future years;

(b) instruct the Chief Officer - Commercial and Procurement to continue to work with partners, Sport Aberdeen, Transition Extreme, Aberdeen Football Club, and the water sport clubs to attract additional funding for these elements within the Beach Master Plan; and

(c) instruct the Chief Officer - Commercial and Procurement to continue improvements to lighting, railings and renovate the existing play park at the Beach.

(2)      instruct the Director of Resources to focus on the delivery of projects contained within the approved city centre masterplan encouraging footfall back onto Union Street and the surrounding city centre area including Queen Street, Castlegate, Union Street East, Union Street West and to continue to work with property owners and developers to encourage the reuse of the buildings on Union Street through ongoing supports such as the affordable housing wavier, the Conservation Area Regeneration Scheme (CARS) and the upcoming bid for Heritage Lottery and Historic Environment Scotland funding;

(3)      note the £780,000 reduction in capital financing costs in the 2023/24 General Fund revenue budget created by the implementation of the recommendations above; and therefore:-

·            instruct the Director of Customer to reverse the library closures at Cornhill, Cults, Northfield, Ferryhill, Woodside and Kaimhill, (£280k);

·            instruct the Director of Commissioning to reverse the cut to Cultural Grants (£163k); and

·            subject to the submission of a Full Business Case to the Director of Resources from the relevant organisations, and thereafter approval of these business cases by the Finance and Resources Committee, allocate the following capital grants in principle:-

·             capital funding to Castlegate Arts of £300k for work required on the Art Centre and to contribute to attracting match funding;

·             capital funding to Aberdeen Performing Arts (APA) for the  redevelopment of the Lemon Tree of £2m over two years to be match funded;

·             capital funding to The OpenSpace Trust for the redevelopment of the East Kirk of £2m over two years to be match funded; and

·             capital funding to Sport Aberdeen of £2m over two years.

Councillor Boulton moved her Notice of Motion and explained the rationale behind her request. Councillor Massey seconded the Notice of Motion.

The Convener seconded by Councillor Greig, moved as an amendment:-

that the Committee take no action.

Councillor Crockett, seconded by Councillor Macdonald, moved as a further amendment:-

that the Committee:-

(1)    instruct the Director of Customer to reverse the library closures at Cornhill, Cults, Northfield, Ferryhill, Woodside and Kaimhill, (£280k);

(2)    agree Council Group Leaders will meet with Sport Aberdeen to ensure that Bucksburn Pool stays open or re-open; and

(3)    agree that the necessary funding come from contingencies.

In terms of Standing Order 29.19, a division between the motion and the amendment by the Convener was undertaken.

On a division, there voted:- for the motion (0); for the amendment by the Convener (8) – the Convener, the Vice Convener and Councillors Fairfull, Greig, Hutchison, Nicoll, Radley and van Sweeden; declined to vote (5) – Councillors Crockett, Farquhar, Macdonald, Massey and Watson.

The Committee resolved:-

to adopt the amendment.