Hello dear readers! Long time no speak. You are well I trust? Egads, it’s the tenth of January already. It seems churlish so late on to be wishing the world a happy new year, but I’ve done so anyway, cause that’s the way I roll.

Unless you’ve been on a different planet, you’ll know there’s been some snow around these parts. Apparently it’s global warming’s fault, as per. Nobody’s seen anything like it in their lifetime. It’s a national disaster! Bollocks it is, I vividly remember snow like this in the past, which means it happened within the last twenty years (the first five years of my life having been a tad more hazy). It’s certainly not as bad as this on a regular basis, but it’s hardly unheard of.

To be honest, here in Aberdeen the snow hasn’t been the real issue. Much worse was the council’s lack of foresight of, and reaction to, said weather event. Even before Christmas, my street was akin to an ice-rink, not aided by the distinct lack of gritters out and about. Sure, the main roads were fine, and the busier pedestrian routes had also received a light sprinkling of grit, but it was nowhere near adequate.

The first sign I saw of grit in the street was on the 5th of January. Now, I can’t remember exactly when the snow first appeared it was that far back (I’d guess sometime around December 20th), but that’s certainly not acceptable to this council tax payer.

It’s not like stupidity is uncommon for good old ACC. Just about to go out to public consultation are the plans for Sir Ian Wood’s BIG SHOW OF WEALTH aka the destruction of a popular city centre green space.

Before Sir Ian stuck his oar – and the promise of a meagre fifty million quid, on the proviso ACC match it pound-for-pound – into none of his business, planning permission had been granted for a new arts centre to utilise part of Union Terrace Gardens. The majority of funding for the arts centre was in place even before this, with a chunk coming from the clearly schizophrenic ACC.

Sir Ian couldn’t have that, of course, and decided to offer his £50M towards a plan (his own) to create a Civic Square above the gardens, with no plans to include the arts centre. Said gardens cover 2.5 acres – that’s a lot of concrete to build up to street level, not mention the untold environmental damage of destroying the plant-life and wildlife currently calling the gardens home and the fact that the cost of such folly is now estimated at a minimum of £140M.

That the cash-strapped council didn’t throw the plan out immediately is bad enough, but guess who’s funding the planning process, the public consultation (which again, doesn’t involve the arts centre)etc? Not Ian Wood, that’s for damn sure! Am I the only one spotting the conflict of interest here?

Regardless of whether you think an arts centre in the gardens is a good idea, surely it can’t be right that a green space that is one of the last distinguishing features of Aberdeen City Centre, one that’s been in use since 1879, be replaced with a soulless concrete block? Surely it can’t be right that Sir Ian’s “legacy” to the city that made him should be such a financial burden on the taxpayers of the city? Surely, my friends, this monstrosity must be stopped?

Imagine the furore if an Edinburgh businessman proposed the same thing for Princess St Gardens, or Sir Tom Hunter decided Glasgow Green would be nicer as a shopping centre. It’s time for the people of Aberdeen to kick up a fuss.

Fraser Denholm has summed the situation up much better than I ever could in this blog and an update here.

If you want to get involved, there’s a petition here against Wood’s Folly and a Facebook group here.