By Jenny Laing
THE levels of uncertainty around the possible outcomes of the negotiations to leave the European Union make the assessment of the implications on Aberdeen very difficult.
As a council we have had initial reports prepared but in reality, in light of the uncertainty, local government can only closely monitor the situation and make preparations to respond to development. Wherever possible we, of course, will feed into new policy and negotiations.
I have made my views on Brexit clear, but regardless of what is happening nationally and internationally we can’t allow it to detract from the efforts to stimulate our regional economy.
In 2016 Aberdeen became the first local authority in Scotland to issue bonds on the London Stock Exchange. What the £370 million bond issue demonstrated was that investor confidence in the council’s economic strategy and vision for the future is very strong – and it is important that message is spread far and wide.
On the back of the oil and gas downturn, international eyes have been on Aberdeen and, understandably, as the Brexit negotiations continue there are huge challenges.
In the past year we have signed the £250m Aberdeen City Region Deal, which we estimate will be worth a total of £826m when wider and private investment and our own contribution are factored in.
Elements of the City Region Deal play a part in the much bigger transformation being driven by Aberdeen City Council through our City Centre Masterplan and Strategic Infrastructure Plan.
This, however, is not change for the sake of change. The goal is to improve outcomes and opportunities for businesses in all sectors and individuals in every one of our communities by investing in a £1billion capital programme.
With the bond issue and the completion of the City Region Deal, in a single month alone last year more than £600m of funding for vital projects was secured. These are significant numbers and underline the scale of the ambition for the future.
We all know the challenges we have faced in our economy and outside factors will continue to have an impact - but when you take time to consider what is being done to shape our city’s future it should give us all great optimism.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here