New Dons stadium 'might never happen' as leading councillor says beach vision was 'only an idea'
A leading council planning boss says further work to boost Aberdeen Beach – which include a seaside Dons stadium – is unlikely to ever make it off the drawing board.
Lib Dem councillor Martin Greig recently cast fresh doubts over the second phase of the multi-million-pound beach revamp, insisting the plans 'were all visionary'.
The whole beachfront scheme – including the potential new Aberdeen FC stadium – could cost £441 million.
It comes after the Dons scooped a phenomenal win for the city at the Scottish Cup final on Saturday, proudly raising the trophy for the first time in 35 years.
Works on the first part of the beach project are already under way, with a huge new playpark starting to take shape and upgrades at Broadhill planned to be done by July.
An events field, an amphitheatre, new canopies and an eye-catching gateway building will also be created as part of the £50m transformation.
Meanwhile, the seaside stadium and a new pier overlooking the North Sea were supposed to be erected as part of the second phase of the project.
But council chiefs last year decided to put the proposals on hold until they find extra cash to pay for the pricey upgrades.
And now Mr Greig seems confident these have been taken off the table entirely.
The council has several regeneration projects on the go – including the new market on The Green, the first phase of the beach revamp and Union Street central upgrades.
The latter, as well as works to turn Queen Street into an urban park, have been delayed due to a series of issues.
And with improvements at Castlegate also imminent, Mr Greig was recently grilled over the council's prospects of getting all of these over the line on time and within budget.
He was confident about the progress with the Flint market, however, seemed rather puzzled when the second phase of the beach revamp was brought up.
Following some further clarification on the proposed further stages of the project, he quickly snapped back: 'Oh, that's all visionary though.'
He added: 'There were no firm decisions made about those [plans].
'It was appropriate to be visionary in imagining how we can improve the beachfront, and encouraging to see inventive solutions to make it more interesting and more varied.
'Clearly, the council has not proceeded with everything that was on the list.'
Asked to clarify whether that means the revamp of the promenade and the new stadium might never happen, Mr Greig grinned with an affirmative 'Yeah…yeah…'
He added: 'There has been a series of visionary proposals for the beachfront over the last few decades – piers, buildings…
'So, there is a history of planning – and not action-ing.'
It comes as the stadium project remains at a stalemate over funding.
The tussle centres around who should pay for further studies into the scheme.
Aberdeen FC initially agreed to look into replacing Pittodrie with a new ground at the beach when the previous Tory-led administration approached the club about ditching its plans to move to Kingsford.
Studies suggested that building a seaside stadium instead would boost the local economy by £1 billion over 50 years.
And chairman Dave Cormack argued there would be no 'meaningful benefit' attached to the major beachfront upgrades without the stadium as part of the project.
But the tide appeared to change when the SNP and Lib Dems took over the council.
And although finance chiefs have insisted the plans are still a possibility, Mr Greig's latest remarks will further dash the hopes of fans who want to see the new beach stadium become a reality.
Thousands of supporters lined the city streets this weekend to celebrate their football club's historic win at the Scottish Cup finals.
And Mr Cormack thinks this shows how many back the Dons and the new stadium idea.
Speaking to Original 106 during the celebrations, Mr Cormack said 'they [the club] will be patient with that'.
He added: 'Aberdeen needs capital investment – particularly around the beach – and a community stadium would serve the city well.'
Council co-leader Christian Allard neither confirmed nor denied whether the second phase of the beach project will ever come to fruition.
He stressed that the esplanade will undergo some work, but this will focus on dealing with erosion issues.
And he suggested that whether the plans will ever go any further than that would depend on how much money and time they have.
'It's not only the financial situation, it's also the capacity of what we can do in one term,' Mr Allard added.
'It's good to be ambitious but you've got to make sure that what you start, you can finish.
'The biggest issue with the beach is the erosion and that needs to be done.
'That [second phase of the revamp] was the plan before the economic changes world-wide and UK-wide. Now we will have to review those and see what needs to be done.'
You can rad more on what exactly the second phase of the beach revamp was planned to involve here.
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