Union Terrace Gardens Vote

[Kowalski]

Council decided to go for Designs 1 & 2

 

That would be the publics 3rd and 4th/5th choices

 

So they've spent £250,000 to conduct a public vote and they're not picking the most popular choices from that vote.

 

Ace.

 

What are your sources for the above statements?  Design 2 was said to be the most popular at the public viewing and everybody I spoke to down there voted for it as their preferred choice.

 

Incidentally design 1 is way OTT.

 

 

[tom_widdows]

What are your sources for the above statements?

 

Over 1100 took part in the STV poll with team four’s design finishing top of the six designs with 137 votes (12%). Team six was the next most popular with 67 votes.

 

Team two’s design, which includes a winter gardens as its main feature, has been a popular choice amongst those attending the exhibition but only received 35 votes in the poll.

 

Team five's plan was bottom of the pile with only ten votes. The full results of the poll are available on the STV Local Aberdeen Facebook page.

 

I know its only an STV poll but still

 

So in fact number 2 was the publics 4th choice and 1 was either 5th or 6th

the most popular choice was of course to leave the gardens alone

[Kowalski]

I know its only an STV poll but still

 

So in fact number 2 was the publics 4th choice and 1 was either 5th or 6th

the most popular choice was of course to leave the gardens alone

 

An STV poll of 1,100 versus the opinions of 15,000 who visited the public displays?  I completely changed my opinion when seeing the public displays and didn't vote so I certainly wouldn't take an internet poll as being anything definitive, and the BBC said Design 2 was the most popular at the public consultation.

[Superstar Tradesman]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-15716845

 

It was the glass one I voted for at the public display.

 

An STV poll of 1,100 versus the opinions of 15,000 who visited the public displays? I completely changed my opinion when seeing the public displays and didn't vote so I certainly wouldn't take an internet poll as being anything definitive, and the BBC said Design 2 was the most popular at the public consultation.

 

A life of politics awaits. 

[Kowalski]

Looks like a typo there, what I meant was I didn't vote in the STV poll.

[glasgow sheep]

http://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/CouncilNews/ci_cns/pr_referendum_notice_151211.asp

 

Notice of Referendum for proposed City Garden Project published by Counting Officer

15/12/11

 

The Notice of Referendum for the proposed development of Aberdeen's Union Terrace Gardens has been published today [15 December] by independent Counting Officer Crawford Langley.

 

It states that a referendum will be held on Thursday 01 March 2012 to decide the question:

 

You are being asked to choose between retaining Union Terrace Gardens or replacing them with the proposed City Garden Project design. Which option do you support?

 

Retaining Union Terrace Gardens

 

The City Garden Project design

 

The Notice further states that the referendum will be conducted on an all postal basis. Voting packs will be issued around 16 February 2012 with papers for counting returned to the Counting Officer no later than 5pm on Thursday 01 March 2012. A facility to vote electronically might be provided and if this is the case the relevant information will be contained within the voting pack.

 

According to the Notice, those entitled to vote at the referendum will be those listed in the Electoral Register as Local Government electors at a qualifying address within the City of Aberdeen and will have attained the age of 18 on or before 30 November 2012. Qualified voters who are not yet on the Electoral Register and who wish to vote in the Referendum must apply to the Electoral Registration Officer at Woodhill House, Westburn Road, Aberdeen AB16 5GE. Applications must arrive no later than 5pm on Tuesday 10 January 2012.

 

Voting packs will be sent to voters at their address as listed on the Register of Electors except where they have requested a different delivery address for postal votes. No arrangements for voting by proxy will be made for this Referendum. Where a voter wishes a voting pack to be sent to an address other than his/her qualifying address an application should be made to the Electoral Registration Officer at the above address, no later than Tuesday 10 January 2012.

 

Electoral Registration application forms are available from the Electoral Registration Officer at the above address, by e-mailing ero@grampian-ero.gov.uk or from www.voteaberdeen.org

 

Applications forms to register as a Campaigning Organisation can be obtained from the Counting Officer by writing to Counting Officer, 3rd Floor, Town House, Broad Street, Aberdeen AB10 1FY, telephone 01224 522713 or e-mail elections@aberdeencity.gov.uk .Completed applications must be received by 5pm on Friday 13 January 2012. Campaigning Organisations must complete a registration form which requires the signature of 20 people registered as Local Government electors within Aberdeen City. Successful applicants will be entitled to a 300 word submission within the postal ballot pack to be sent to all electors and an allocated attendance at the counting of votes. Where it appears to the Counting Officer that a number of prospective campaigning organisations represent substantially the same interest, he reserves the right to limit the number of statements enclosed with the voting pack.

 

Councillors voted in favour of holding a referendum as a means of gauging the level of public support for the proposed City Garden Project at Wednesday's [14 December] meeting of Full Council.

[Kowalski]

Sounds like there will be just one design in the referendum them!?

[glasgow sheep]

Sounds like there will be just one design in the referendum them!?

 

Well presumably with any luck everyone will vote no anyway so it's kind of academic but does look as if it is "do nothing" or "do what ever the fuck we like" which is a surprisingly fair question and pretty failure worded.

[glasgow sheep]

http://aberdeenvoice.com/2012/01/build-it-and-they-might-come-tourism-and-the-fate-of-utg/

Build It And They Might Come – Tourism And The Fate Of UTG

 

Jan 062012

 

 

Over three years ago, Sir Ian Wood announced the City Square Project with the intention of replacing Union Terrace Gardens with “a cross between the Grand Italian Piazza and a mini Central Park.” It has since been renamed the City Garden Project. The cost of building the project is nominally £140 million, of which it has been proposed that £70M of this would be borrowed by Aberdeen City Council involving a tax scheme.  Mike Shepherd offers some analysis of current local government trends, the recession, and what it may mean for Aberdeen.

 

The project’s supporters allege the City Garden Project is needed to ensure that Aberdeen is attractive enough to retain energy professionals long term and to ensure Aberdeen’s economy is based on tourism post-oil.

 

For instance, an advert by ACSEF in the Press and Journal (January 2010) stated that:-

 

“Creating a new heart for Aberdeen presents a unique opportunity to put the city on the ‘must visit’ list.”

 

Aberdeen City Council is £562 million in debt (2010 figure).

See: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2011/02/21143624/4

 

Last November, Perth and Kinross Council approved demolishing the listed Perth Town Hall to build a Civic Square in its place, a move that has raised much controversy.  The BBC reported:

 

“The council said many local businesses supported the civic square proposal. And council officers have argued that full demolition and reuse of the site as a public space would provide the most additional value to the local economy.  The cost of scheme is estimated at £4.4m, but the report said an additional 15,000 people per year would extend their stay in the city, with an extra 60,000 coming for events. “This would result in a combined additional spend per person per visit of £23 generating a total gross expenditure of £1.65m per annum,” it added.

See:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-15742937

 

Perth and Kinross Council is £222 Million in debt (2010 figure).

 

A similar controversy has been raging in Cork, Ireland, where the struggling Cork Council has been involved in a plan to install the Sky Garden Project. Celebrity TV gardener Diarmuid Gavin’s Irish Sky Garden won the gold medal at the Chelsea Flower Show (It looks like a giant hanging flower basket).

 

      There is a pattern here. Local governments the world over are in serious debt

 

The Council agreed to put the garden on permanent display in the city’s Fitzgerald Park at a cost of at least €300,000, with more than €1.7 million given to the project by Fáilte Ireland, the Irish tourism body.

 

In tones, redolent of the Aberdeen controversy, the Irish Independent wrote:

 

“THE taxpayer could be hit with a further bill of over €100,000 in costs connected to Diarmuid Gavin’s award-winning garden.

 

“Workers’ Party councillor Ted Tynan said the council needed to clarify precisely how much the garden cost, and what the council would pay in transport, insurance and operating costs. He also expressed disbelief that the garden — including its 30-metre high floating ‘pod’ and crane — may only open for three months each year.

 

“I love gardens and flowers and parks, but this is absolutely ridiculous. You’d put a hell of a lot of flower beds around the city for this kind of money. We should keep our feet on the ground not in the clouds with a sky garden’,” Mr Tynan said

 

“There are 500 boarded-up council houses in Cork and 120 people with various disabilities waiting on home adaptations. But the funding to go to all this has been cut by central government,” he added.

 

“Last night, the council said support for the “iconic garden” was in line with the policy that led to the creation of successful visitor attractions in the city.”

 

“This is part of a long-term policy to create a necklace of top tourist attractions that will bring people to Cork, get them to stay longer here and spend more money here,” a council spokesman said.

 

“Fáilte Ireland insisted that the garden would generate significant tourism earnings.”

 

See: http://www.independent.ie/national-news/diarmuid-gavinrsquos-euro2m-lsquosky-gardenrsquo-growing-in-cost-2661548.html

 

There is a pattern here. Local governments the world over are in serious debt. Services and amenities are being cut, yet it doesn’t stop them from spending money on expensive big-ticket items that might bring visitors in.  There is a feedback loop between local government, chambers of commerce and national government that serves to create the syndrome, “if we build it, they will come”.

 

      While a worthy cause, this has caused controversy as the annual budget will be part-funded by the city’s Common Good Fund

 

Where local economies have failed as in Cork for example, tourism may be the last throw of the dice to engender outside income.  There will be much competition for the dwindling number of international tourists as the recession bites. Recent reports suggest that countries such as Greece and Spain will focus relentlessly on promoting tourism as the last glimmer of light in their busted economies.

 

Aberdeen has caught up on the trend of pushing long-term tourism. The local chamber of commerce have been promoting a new destination marketing organisation for the city called ‘Visit Aberdeen’.

 

While a worthy cause, this has caused controversy as the annual budget will be part-funded by the city’s Common Good Fund; £107,000 for 2011 / 2012 and potentially for the next six years also. Arguably this is more ‘commerce good’ than ‘common good’.

 

The draft business plan recognises the future of the City Garden Project / Union Terrace Gardens as a primary issue. It is to be hoped that an organisation part-funded by Common Good money will not be promoting the controversial development of a public park that lies on Common Good land.

See: http://committees.aberdeencity.gov.uk/mgConvert2PDF.aspx?ID=15678

 

Are the citizens of Aberdeen willing to support the allocation of scarce resources to “a build it and they might come” vision for the city, allowing a public park to be developed for the sake of possible future tourists? Or is this all pie in the sky stuff that will use up money desperately needed elsewhere and will result in the appearance of the Granite City changing forever?

 

You have the chance to decide yourself.  The referendum on the fate of Union Terrace Gardens will be held in February.

[capitalsharpie]

Not one single penny of Common Good Fund money should be used on this if there is any external private vested interests and until the people of Aberdeen vote for redevelopment. Giving big companies like Next or Boots a leg up or financing a council with an axe to grind  is not what this fund is for.

[Kowalski]

Campaign against Aberdeen City Garden Project launched

 

A group against the redevelopment of Aberdeen's Union Terrace Gardens has launched a campaign ahead of a referendum on the project.

 

Friends of Union Terrace Gardens claim the proposed £140m City Garden Project is wrong economically, environmentally and for the heritage of the city.

 

The City Garden management board said it was an "amazing opportunity".

 

Members of the public are being asked whether they support the project or if they want the existing gardens kept.

 

The ballot will close on 1 March.

 

Two designs have gone head-to-head to compete for the project if it goes ahead.

 

The finalists are called Granite Web and Winter Garden, with the winner due to be announced later this month.

 

Businessman Sir Ian Wood has pledged £50m to the project.

 

During a previous public consultation process, 55% of those who took part said they did not support the new development.

 

However, councillors backed taking the plans to the next stage.

 

If the project proceeds, Aberdeen City Council believes construction could be finished by 2016.

[dave_min]

Has anybody found somebody who is for this yet?

[Kowalski]

Has anybody found somebody who is for this yet?

 

[Tyrant]

Ridiculous waste of money.

[Superstar Tradesman]

Again we seem to be back to the arguement that the money would be better off spent elsewhere.

 

The money won't be spent elsewhere because the council's money doesn't exist unless this goes ahead and the private investors aren't willing to put upwards of £70m into 'boarded-up council houses'.

 

The way I see it is that the council shouldn't be skint in the first place with the amount of money rolling through the city.  There lies the problem.

[glasgow sheep]

Again we seem to be back to the arguement that the money would be better off spent elsewhere.

 

The money won't be spent elsewhere because the council's money doesn't exist unless this goes ahead and the private investors aren't willing to put upwards of £70m into 'boarded-up council houses'.

 

The way I see it is that the council shouldn't be skint in the first place with the amount of money rolling through the city.  There lies the problem.

 

How much of the money "rolling into the city" actually makes its way to the Council Chambers?  Has Aberdeen not suffered due to its prosperity, in that other areas of Scotland that are more deprived have benefited from Central Govt and European Grants at the expense of Aberdeen?

 

Also if the council go ahead with this they do get access to a lot of money that doesn't exist but it will limit their ability to access similar money in the future from the same source(s)

[Kowalski]

"The judges of an international design competition to transform Union Terrace Gardens in Aberdeen are expected to announce a winner on Monday.

 

A referendum is to be held next month to decide if the contentious £140m City Garden Project will go ahead.

 

Around 15,000 people attended a two-week exhibition to view the six designs for Union Terrace Gardens last year.

 

The design competition has since been whittled down to two entries – the Granite Web and Winter Garden – with the winner set to be revealed on Monday morning.

 

The Granite Web was designed by New York studio Diller Scofidio and Renfro, while Foster and Partners – who also designed the new Wembley Stadium in London – were the architects behind the Winter Garden.

 

Local businessman Sir Ian Wood has pledged £50m of his money to the project and gave the Aberdeen City Gardens Trust £400,000 to fund the design competition.

 

Sir Ian has also agreed to cover 80% of the referendum costs, which could be as much as £250,000.

 

He has also promised that he will withdraw support for the gardens plans if it does not win public backing.

 

Voting packs will be posted across the city in the middle of February 2012 and residents given two weeks to return their vote. Residents are also set to be able to cast their vote by phone and online.

 

Mike Shepherd, chairman of the Friends of Union Terrace Gardens who are campaigning to retain the Victorian park, said: "The winning design in the vote that counts is Union Terrace Gardens. We are the option that preserves our heritage, keeps the trees and will not involve the council borrowing £70m.

 

"The design chosen will see many of the existing trees chopped down. I hope we are told exactly how many will go. The public need the facts so that they can choose between the leafy Union Terrace Gardens and what could sadly end up as Union Treeless Gardens."

[Kowalski]

Design 1 has won it, which I thought was way OTT.  Design 2 was said to be the more popular in the public consultation.

 

http://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/Article.aspx/2595913

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-16573250

 

[tom_widdows]

wow

 

A scottish archticture firm wins an international competition

 

Think that will be the final nail in this projects coffin

[Kowalski]

Plans have obviously been changed/enhanced and there's quite a PR exercise happening at the moment to convince the public:

 

Ice rink plan for Aberdeen gardens

Union Terrace rink to double as auditorium

 

By David Ewen chief reporter

 

Published: 21/01/2012

 

AN ICE rink is to be part of the City Garden plan for Aberdeen, the Evening Express can reveal today.

 

The winning design will feature a 5,000-seater outdoor auditorium – which will double as the ice rink.

 

Today the body behind the City Garden Project said the design would help give the £140 million scheme year-round appeal.

[mizer]

A MINI pine forest would be created in the centre of Aberdeen as part of the City Garden Project, designers revealed today.

 

The raising of Union Terrace Gardens in Aberdeen would see 186 trees planted.

 

The forest – largely rare Scots Pines – would replace the 86 trees currently in Union Terrace Gardens, to help create the new City Garden in Aberdeen.

[Kowalski]

Sir Alex Ferguson backs Aberdeen City Garden design

 

By David Ewen chief reporter

 

Published: 02/02/2012

 

FOOTBALL legend Sir Alex Ferguson today hailed the City Garden planned for the heart of Aberdeen as a winner.

 

And the Manchester United manager and former Dons boss urged citizens to give it their backing in a public referendum.

 

Sir Alex made his rallying call as the vote “yes” group for raising Union Terrace Gardens (UTG) to street level was launched.

[mizer]

Who gives a fuck what he says? Cunt.

[glasgow sheep]

[Kowalski]

http://www.voteforcitygarden.co.uk/

http://www.facebook.com/voteforthecitygardenproject