Plans for £3m Renovation of Aberdeen’s Denburn Put on Indefinite Hold

Plans for a £3 million restoration of Aberdeen’s Denburn will be “paused indefinitely” after the council was 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 had recommended the project be 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 warned that if the remaining money needed to complete the project wasn’t found by September, they would 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.
Mr Dunne advised it would be wise to shelve the project until they find other avenues to fund.
This was one of four options drawn up by his planning team, which also included moving forward as planned despite the grant snub and scrapping it altogether.
Members of the local authority’s net zero, environment and transport committee discussed the Denburn project when they met this week.
Councillor Alex Nicol noted it was “disappointing” that the council had not secured funding for the development.
And he feared that the scheme could “go off the radar” if it was paused indefinitely.
Mr Nicol asked for clarity around timescales for funding and if the project could potentially come to an end if the £3m cost was not covered.
He was told that the council’s external funding team was exploring a range of options and potential funding from the UK Government.
However, Mr Dunne explained that the plans would be looked at again in September if no other funding streams have been found.
Meanwhile, councillor Dell Henrickson praised the work done so far and wanted to the idea come to life.
He said: “There’s an increasing demand on funding from the UK Government and all organisations, the criteria has to be strict and unfortunately we have fallen short.
“It’s a really good project and we should be looking for funding wherever we can.
“It makes sense to me to continue with it at the moment because all the plans are there and as soon as there is funding we can move forward.” ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

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