North-east has bold ambitions for future
OUTDATED stereotypes are rarely helpful. When they are inaccurate, poorly informed and publicly shared, they can border on damaging.
At a time when our cities and towns are under existential threat from the impact of Covid loaded on top of already changing retail habits and a refusal by Government to allow workers back into offices, comparisons with a bygone era are unhelpful and irrelevant. Our focus needs to be on the future and the regional economic partners in the North-east are certainly not wallowing in nostalgia.
If Aberdonians are guilty of anything, it is burying our lights under a bushel and not shouting as loudly about themselves as other places do. Meaning that the investment and economic regeneration initiatives already taking place here alongside the bold ambitions we have for the future, are stories untold.
Only last month Aberdeen City Council announced new investment of £150m in the second phase of the city centre masterplan strengthening links between the heart of the city and its waterfronts. This is just a taster of the £10bn plus of investment which has recently or is about to take place in our corner of the world.
The £330m invested in The Events Complex Aberdeen, the new venue which, in the short time it was open pre-covid, hosted BBC’S Sports Personality of the Year Awards and broke the record for attendance at an indoor music gig in Scotland will make the North-east a location of choice for major business and consumer events for many years to come.
Add this to bringing world class events like cycling’s Tour of Britain to the region, the £34m refurbishment of Aberdeen Art Gallery- currently Museum of the Year- which will host the British Art Show this summer, the £28m project to bring Union Terrace Gardens back to life and the reopening of Provost Skene’s House as a museum to famous Aberdeen folk and you get a more contemporary picture of a city region going places. A great place to live and visit, underpinning the strategy of becoming a £1bn regional tourism economy within a few years.
Yes, traditional retail is challenged right now but successful cities are built on people. Our BID, Aberdeen Inspired has been delivering innovative activities creating a vibrant and appealing location rich in culture and entertainment where those people choose to spend leisure time. From the internationally acclaimed Nuart street art festival which attracts around 30,000 visitors each year to the International Comedy Festival. And from Aberdeen Jazz Festival to Restaurant Week. And there is so much more on the way.
Despite all of the challenges of the last five to six years, the Aberdeen economy is in fundamentally good health. Recent independent reports confirm the Northeast is regularly rated among the best places to live in the UK and net disposable income here is the highest in the country.
The announcement of the transformational North Sea Transition Deal and establishing the Energy Transition Zone are two pivotal initiatives that confirm Aberdeen as being front and centre of Scotland and the UK’S journey to net zero through our expertise in industrial energy transition. Being at the heart of the drive to develop and deliver green energy solutions is, perhaps, a bigger and longer term economic opportunity for the region than when oil was discovered in the North Sea in the ‘60s and will protect and create thousands of high value jobs here for decades.
So rather than knocking our cities, let’s back them. Talk them up. Spend time there. Get cash back into the tills of retailers, restaurants, bars and leisure venues. In fact, use them or lose them.