Annie Lennox Wants To Save Public Gardens

Former Eurythmics star Annie Lennox is urging people to back a campaign to stop plans for a civic square to be built over Union Terrace Gardens in her home town of Aberdeen.

“For me, Union Terrace Gardens was, and still is the green historical heart of the city,” wrote Lennox on her blog. “Like so many towns and cities all over the country, Aberdeen lost a great deal of its architectural heritage and charm through destruction by bulldozer and concrete. It made me sad then, and it still makes me sad. I hoped that this kind of ‘vandalism’ had peaked in the 60’s and 70’s, but for Aberdeen, it seems to be back with vengeance. What idiocy and madness.”

The £140m City Square proposals have a promise of £50m in funding from businessman Sir Ian Wood. However, arts organization Peacock also has plans for a £13m centre.

“Aberdeen is your home town. Are you going to sit back, and do nothing while its beautiful historic centre gets ripped out and concreted over? It’s down to you to stop this happening,” urged Lennox.

The plans are currently the focus of a public debate.

Aberdeen City and Shire Economic Future (Acsef) chairman Tom Smith said: “Given that Ms Lennox appears to have made her comments based on a wholly inaccurate description of the project on MySpace, we are hardly surprised by them… Acsef has repeatedly stated that the City Square project aims to create a new civic space and gardens with an iconic arts centre as its centerpiece.”

A Peacock spokesperson said: “Annie Lennox is one of Scotland’s greatest creative talents. We are therefore overwhelmed that she has got involved with the debate on the future of Peacock and Union Terrace Gardens. Despite being a major international star, Annie’s views still seem to reflect her fellow citizens of Aberdeen who are inundating us daily with messages of concern about the future of their gardens and of Peacock and asking what they can do to help save them both.”