Agenda item

With reference to Article 13 of the minute of its meeting of 26 April 2023, the Council had before it a report by the Director of Commissioning which provided the updated Beachfront Development Framework and presented the Outline Business Case (OBC) for the A956 Beach Boulevard Roundabout, the Strategic Outline Case (SOC) for a number of key beachfront projects which were progressing to OBC, and a Branding Strategy for the Beachfront and City Centre Masterplan projects.

The report recommended:-

that the Council -

(a)          approve the content of the Aberdeen Beachfront Development Framework Phase 1, Executive Summary and Strategic Environmental Assessment (Appendices 1, 2 and 3), and agree to monitor the Development Framework Phase 1 as part of the annual review of the overarching City Centre and Beach Masterplan;

(b)          note the contents of the Executive Summary of the Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance (STAG) report (Appendix 5) and Outline Business Case (Appendix 6) for the Commerce Street/Beach Boulevard junction improvement project, and agree the recommendations within the Outline Business Case;

(c)          instruct the Chief Officer - Commercial and Procurement in conjunction with the Chief Officer - Capital to join Justice Street, Beach Boulevard and Commerce Street/Beach Boulevard junction projects into a single City Beach Connectivity Project and to progress detailed design and other preparatory work for City Beach Connectivity Project and provide a Full Business Case within an indicative timeline of 12-18 months;

(d)          approve the findings of the Beachfront Phase C Projects and Coastal Management in the prepared Strategic Outline Case (Appendix 7) and instruct the Chief Officer - Commercial and Procurement to progress to an OBC and report back to Council by December 2023; and

(e)          approve the development and implementation of the Branding Strategy (Appendix 8).

Councillor Yuill moved, seconded by Councillor Nicoll:-

That the Council:

1.      Approve the content of the Aberdeen Beachfront Development Framework Phase 1, Executive Summary and Strategic Environmental Assessment (Appendices 1, 2 and 3), and agree to monitor the Development Framework Phase 1 as part of the annual review of the overarching City Centre and Beach Masterplan.

2.      Note the contents of the Executive Summary of the Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance (STAG) report (Appendix 5) and Outline Business Case (Appendix 6) for the Commerce Street/Beach Boulevard junction improvement project, and agree the recommendations within the Outline Business Case.

3.      Instruct the Chief Officer - Commercial and Procurement in conjunction with the Chief Officer - Capital to join Justice Street, Beach Boulevard and Commerce Street/Beach Boulevard junction projects into a single Beach Connectivity Project and to progress detailed design and other preparatory work for the Beach Connectivity Project and provide a Full Business Case within an indicative timeline of 12-18 months.

4.      Approve the findings of the Beachfront Phase C Projects and Coastal Management in the prepared Strategic Outline Case (Appendix 7) and instruct the Chief Officer - Commercial and Procurement to progress to an OBC and report back to Council by December 2023.

5.      Instruct the Chief Officer - Commercial and Procurement to report to the Council’s August meeting on alternative branding options.

6.      Note the extensive consultation undertaken to date by both City Centre Masterplan and Beach Development Framework programmes and, as part of work towards the City Beach Connectivity project FBC, instruct the Chief Officer - Commercial and Procurement to ensure engagement with key stakeholders at all key stages in the development of the design.

7.      Note the principle of the preferred Commerce Street/Beach Boulevard Junction option is to introduce and improve active travel provision using space currently occupied by the large roundabout and that current project cost estimates are based on its full replacement, including significant allowances for uncertainties and, as part of work towards the FBC, instruct the Chief Officer - Commercial and Procurement to investigate opportunities to reconfigure areas of the roundabout to ensure the Council is able to demonstrate Best Value and evidence how the project will contribute to the Council’s Net Zero targets.

8.      Note that in order to maximise active travel access between the city centre and beach area requires improved infrastructure along the whole route and therefore instruct the Chief Officer - Commercial and Procurement to investigate and seek additional sources of external funding to support and deliver the wider Beach Masterplan.

9.     Note that “Working in Partnership for Aberdeen” includes the objective of making the Castlegate a gateway to our city's beachfront and instruct the Chief Officer - Strategic Place Planning to carry out consultation with key stakeholders on creating an active travel and public transport link through the Castlegate to deliver this objective as part of the Beach Connectivity Project and to report to a future Council meeting on this.

Councillor Massey moved as an amendment, seconded by Councillor Farquhar:-

That the Council agree the recommendations contained within the report subject to the following:-

·         Amend recommendation (c) to read - instruct the Chief Officer - Commercial and Procurement in conjunction with the Chief Officer - Capital to join Justice Street, Beach Boulevard and Commerce Street/Beach Boulevard junction projects into a single City Beach Connectivity Project and to progress detailed design and other preparatory work for the City Beach Connectivity Project and provide a Full Business Case within an indicative 12-18 months welcoming any full business cases from private sector partners around modes of transport including but not limited to the possibility of a cable car system;

·         Instruct the Chief Officer - Strategic Place Planning to engage with the bus operators to gauge their interest in using a reopened Castlegate, noting that:-

·           the current layout of the Castlegate square is poorly used, has low footfall and that many businesses in the square are either closed or struggling;

·           the Castlegate was previously laid out open to traffic and it was a major hub for buses;

·           using the Castlegate as a hub for buses could also dramatically increase footfall and use of the area;

·           reverting to a reopened Castlegate should enable better connection between Union Street and the Beach, and in particular would enable faster bus times. Therefore, it should be included within the single City Beach Connectivity Project as described at recommendation (c);

·           reopening the Castlegate to buses and cycles would also have implications for the Beach Boulevard Roundabout and this should also be considered; and

·         Accept part 5 of the motion by Councillor Yuill as outlined above.

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

            That the Council -

1.    agree the recommendations within the report subject to the addition of the following:-

2.    note that in the budget for 2021/22 the Labour led Administration put £150m into the Council’s General Fund Capital Programme to kick start the Aberdeen City Centre Masterplan including the Beach Masterplan;

3.    note that the Business Planner shows that, at its meeting of 25 August 2022, the Council approved the City Centre and Beach Masterplan 2022, noting that it was a live document, and instructed the Chief Officer - Strategic Place Planning to keep the report under review, with progress reported to Full Council after 12 months;

4.    agree that it is important that the City Centre and Beach Masterplan are not decoupled to the extent that they are two separate Masterplans as this will confuse the public, detract from the agreed 2016 Masterplan and will lead to uncertainty of best value when it comes to the best use of council financial resources;

5.    agree that the Council decision of 25 August 2022 is somewhat diluted by recommendation (c) and therefore agree recommendations (c) and (d) subject to all of these matters forming part of the report coming to Council in August 2023;

6.    agree that in order for the City Centre and Beach Masterplan to be a success the Council requires to invest in the city as a whole and note that so far all we have seen from this Administration is Library Closures, Pool closures, proposed School closures and the threat of legal action;

7.    agree the importance of Aberdeen Football Club to the City of Aberdeen and instruct the Chief Officer - Commercial and Procurement, to provide members with any agreed Heads of Terms with Aberdeen Football Club as part of the report due in August 2023; and

8.    approve parts 5 and 9 of the motion by Councillor Yuill as outlined above.

There being a motion and two amendments, the Council first divided between the amendment by Councillor Massey and the amendment by Councillor Crockett.

On a division, there voted:-

For the amendment by Councillor Massey  (6)  -  Councillors Boulton, Brooks, Cross, Farquhar, Kusznir and Massey.

For the amendment by Councillor Crockett  (11)  -  Councillors Ali, Blake, Bonsell, Crockett, Graham, Grant, Lawrence, Macdonald, Malik, Thomson and Watson.

Decline to vote  (22)  -  Lord Provost; Depute Provost; and Councillors Al-Samarai, Allard, Alphonse, Bouse, Hazel Cameron, Clark, Copland, Cormie, Davidson, Fairfull, Greig, Henrickson, Hutchison, MacGregor, McLellan, Mennie, Nicoll, Radley, van Sweeden and Yuill.

Absent from the division  (1)  -  Councillor McRae.

The Council then divided between the motion and the amendment by Councillor Crockett.

On a division, there voted:-

For the motion  (24)  -  Lord Provost; Depute Provost; and Councillors Al-Samarai, Allard, Alphonse, Boulton, Bouse, Hazel Cameron, Clark, Copland, Cormie, Davidson, Fairfull, Greig, Henrickson, Hutchison, MacGregor, McLellan, McRae, Mennie, Nicoll, Radley, van Sweeden and Yuill.

For the amendment by Councillor Crockett  (16)  -  Councillors Ali, Blake, Bonsell, Brooks, Crockett, Cross, Farquhar, Graham, Grant, Kusznir, Lawrence, Macdonald, Malik, Massey, Thomson and Watson.

The Council resolved:-

to adopt the motion.