The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Finance boss hits back in £200k wall repair row
Wall row: Councillor accuses rivals of ‘stitch-up’ in dispute over £200,000
A council finance boss last night denied owning a piece of land at the centre of a row over allegedly unauthorised public spending. A total of £200,000 was set aside to fix a boundary wall near the home of Willie Young, pictured, sparking a political row. Last night, he accused the council of “serious failings” over the issue.
Aberdeen finance boss Willie Young last night denied owning a piece of land at the centre of a £200,000 repair bill row.
The money was set aside to fix a boundary wall on Wellington Brae, near Mr Young’s home in Ferryhill – despite the project never being authorised by councillors.
A political row has erupted and an internal investigation has been launched after it emerged the scheme was not scrutinised or approved by committee – and last night, Mr Young insisted he had never said he owned the land, while accusing the council of “serious failings”.
A council spokesman said the matter was being investigated, and admitted the authority did not know who owned the land. Mr Young spoke out after coming under fierce criticism when title deeds emerged suggesting he was the owner of the site, which runs along a national cycle path. E-mail correspondence between Mr Young and senior council officers indicate he was approached to give his permission to progress the repair works between August and October last year – which he did verbally in September.
A freedom of information request also indicates the council approached the landowner about the works, while the opposition SNP group had legally scrutinised title deeds through a solicitor which appeared to indicate that Mr Young was the owner of the land.
But last night, Mr Young produced legal documents which appeared to show he had disposed of the site more than 20 years ago.
He said that officers had approached him in error as the landowner and that he had contacted his solicitors to ascertain whether he did in fact own the land.
He said: “I never said I was the landowner. I said I needed to contact my solicitors. It’s clear that there have been serious failings at the council but that is not for me to answer.
“Works of this kind should require written agreement before proceeding and I never wrote that I was the landowner and said I needed to take legal advice. I told officers that I needed to contact my solicitor, but if it was mine then to proceed. The officers should be checking the title deeds.
“I do not own that land.”
Mr Young described the row as an “SNP stitch-up” and an attempt to “smear” him in the run-up to next week’s council elections.
He added he was now considering taking action against the SNP group.
But Torry and Ferryhill SNP member Graham Dickson said: “Whilst Councillor Young is disputing land ownership it is strange that he continued to communicate with council officers – who claimed it was his land – for a number of months and it appears he might have authorised work to proceed assuming he was the landowner.”
Last year cycle pathway body Sustrans, which is 79%-funded by the taxpayer, agreed to provide the £200,000 budget for the works – which also includes cutting back trees and landscaping – as it sits along the national Dover to Shetland cycle route.