‘Design caused me to think again’

SIR, – Many of today's iconic buildings – St Paul's Cathedral, for example – were subject to intense criticism at their inception. Like many local citizens, I was opposed initially to replacing Aberdeen's green heart with what I imagined to be a flat, paved “piazza” like some kind of pastiche of London's Trafalgar Square. But the Granite Web design caused me to think again.

It's not as if the costs will come out of the pockets of local council taxpayers or require further budget cuts, or that the proposed Tif funding could simply be transferred to some other project, however worthy, without Sir Ian Wood's significant £50million gift or its equivalent.

“What better than to create a project on our own doorstep, under the city’s control.”

chase, where future ticket revenue was used to buy the club. The problems began when the club then didn’t have sufficient revenue to operate.

Even worse, though, the Tif application depends on future increased tax revenue that is nebulous at best, complete fiction at worse.

The new council should be allowed to address the city’s pressing problems such as transportation, rather than be forced to waste money on this project. There is, of course, no guarantee that the Tif application will be successful. If it isn’t, will that be end of story?

Given that so much of the planning paperwork has been done already, surely it makes sense to take that next step, subject to careful scrutiny of the budgeted costs.

The question is, in the new administration's haste to put this to the vote, will their new councillors be given all the facts, pro as well as con. And will they be given a free vote, or whipped to the current party line? Diana Daly, Beaconhill Road, Milltimber, Aberdeen.