I was attacked in P&J letters page this week for speaking out in defence of the Torry, Kincorth, Cove and Nigg community councils on the matter of the new Aberdeen Football club stadium.
I will always stand up for local people and highlight well founded concerns. I also think that whether the stadium is the best thing for AFC or not is a matter for the season ticket holding Dons fans, not prospective politicians, so I won't wade in to that debate.
But to address this Andy Coulson-esque piece of spin that I'm anti development. Ridiculous. Maybe if the Tories had any members or a candidate that lives in Aberdeen they'd know I've got 'Get on with building the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route' as one of the top pledges on my campaign literature. That I'm a strong supporter of the Aberdeen Offshore Wind Deployment Centre. That I think all across Scotland we desperately need more affordable housing, and would expedite the development of brownfield sites to help provide more accommodation.
But no. I'll take one look at the polls which show that the Lib Dems and Tories are down and out across Scotland, but remember there's still a lot of work to be done and get back to campaigning. This election will really be a straight out fight between Scottish Labour and the SNP. It was the last Labour administration that passed the legislation for the AWPR, before the SNP took two and a half years to confirm the funding for it. It's Labour who want to reinstate the Edinburgh and Glasgow rail links the SNP cancelled. Labour are the only credible pro-development party on the ballot paper.
My concerns with the plans are purely those of local residents, as the paper reported. Residents are worried about the impact of the stadium on the environment and traffic in their communities. They are also right to raise for consideration the wider economic impact on the city.
But to address this Andy Coulson-esque piece of spin that I'm anti development. Ridiculous. Maybe if the Tories had any members or a candidate that lives in Aberdeen they'd know I've got 'Get on with building the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route' as one of the top pledges on my campaign literature. That I'm a strong supporter of the Aberdeen Offshore Wind Deployment Centre. That I think all across Scotland we desperately need more affordable housing, and would expedite the development of brownfield sites to help provide more accommodation.
But no. I'll take one look at the polls which show that the Lib Dems and Tories are down and out across Scotland, but remember there's still a lot of work to be done and get back to campaigning. This election will really be a straight out fight between Scottish Labour and the SNP. It was the last Labour administration that passed the legislation for the AWPR, before the SNP took two and a half years to confirm the funding for it. It's Labour who want to reinstate the Edinburgh and Glasgow rail links the SNP cancelled. Labour are the only credible pro-development party on the ballot paper.
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