Council passes up opportunity to form beach stadium 'working group'

Aberdeen City Council leaders have passed up the opportunity to form a fresh working group with Aberdeen Football Club to thrash out plans over a new stadium at the beach.

Hopes were raised of reigniting stalled talks between the authority and the Dons after the club's historic Scottish Cup win and subsequent celebratory parade scenes in the city centre.

Christian Allard and Ian Yuill, co-leaders of the SNP and Lib-Dem ruling coalition, were reportedly "delighted" to set up a fresh meeting with AFC over the stadium.

But two months on, The Press and Journal understands no such meeting has taken place.

It comes after Labour and Conservative group leaders in the city pushed for the formation of a "working group" with Aberdeen Football Club.

Talks had previously stalled over disagreements as to who should pay for the new stadium.

Dons chairman Dave Cormack told the P&J on Thursday evening that he was "adamant" the club would pay its fair share and emphasised the boost to the city and economy of a new stadium.

Back in March, AGCC called for the city to take inspiration for the stunning plans for Manchester United's new 100,000-seater stadium.

The Chamber posed the question: "Why haven’t we embraced our own transformative sporting project; one that revitalises our city, boosts our economy, and builds a lasting legacy for future generations?

"The answer is we can – but only if we work together."

Read the full story in today's Press and Journal.