Cash-strapped council pushed to AXE £3m Denburn restoration after grant snub

Press and Journal

3 days ago

Planning chiefs are pushing for the £3 million restoration of Aberdeen's Denburn to be 'paused indefinitely' after they were refused a crucial grant.
The restoration project was launched two years ago to make the ancient stream and surrounding wetland habitat more accessible to residents.
Under the plans, the 1.5 mile stretch from the Den of Maidencraig nature reserve to King's Gate in the west of the city would have been enhanced.
It was also proposed to re-meander the Denburn and create new footpaths for visitors to stroll along.
And for the last two years, council leaders have been trying to work out how to fund the project – securing extra support from Sepa and Nestrans.
But now, planning officials are recommending the project is kicked in the long grass after they were denied a £1.5m grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
The local authority has already secured some promises of cash to help bring the project to fruition.
Sepa pledged to pay up to £950,000 through its Water Environment Fund, however, this funding is time-limited and would be lost if the project is delayed.
This is on top of another £250,000 which they gave the council for the designs.
Money was also secured from Nestrans and bus lane fines for the new path works, which will also only be awarded if the proposal moves forward.
However, planning chief David Dunne explains that if they don't find the remaining money needed to complete the project by September, they will have to refund it all.
The whole scheme is estimated to cost around £3m – nearly a million more than initially expected.
After securing the first batches of cash and joining with Sepa to develop the project, city chiefs were tasked with finding external sources for the final piece of the puzzle.
The National Lottery Heritage Fund was found as the best match and the application was submitted in November – but refused just a few months later.
Lottery bosses explained they preferred to give the cash to other projects and suggested the Denburn one would benefit from more financial support from the council instead.
And now Mr Dunne has advised that it would be wise to shelve the project until they find other avenues to fund.
This is one of four options drawn up by his planning team, which also include moving forward as planned despite the grant snub and scrapping the restoration altogether.
In his report, he writes: 'The Den Burn Restoration Project is an active project with SEPA and is prioritised for funding with them.
'Pausing the project indefinitely will very significantly raise the risk of losing this existing external funding.
'However, there appear no other choices in the absence of match funding.'
Members of the local authority's net zero, environment and transport committee will discuss the Denburn project when they meet next week.