Protestors have descended on Aberdeen’s city centre gardens on the day a public consultation into the space’s future was launched.
The plans to turn Union Terrace Gardens into a £140m civic square have proved controversial.
Businessman Sir Ian Wood has already vowed to meet £50million of the cost.
At the gardens on Monday, the I Heart UTG group unveiled three metre banners emblazoned with the message ‘Save Me’.
Group founder Katie Guthrie described the civic square proposal as a massive drain on the public purse coupled with the loss of Aberdeen’s historic and unique city-centre Gardens.
She said: “At the core of Sir Ian’s plans is the complete destruction of the Gardens as they exist currently. They will not be “raised” as ACSEF publicity tells us, but completely removed to make way for a concrete-and steel substructure.
“At a time where cities around the world are trying to maintain Urban Green Space and areas of significant and cultural interest, we find it ridiculous that ACSEF and Aberdeen City Council are considering removing Union Terrace Gardens.
Biggest critics of the development are Peacock Visual Arts which had already been granted planning permission for its own separate development.
Aberdeen City Council, Scottish Enterprise and the Scottish Arts Council had already backed the Peacock scheme which has been jeopardised by the Sir Ian Wood-backed civic square concept.
Aberdeen City and Shire Economic Future (Acsef) launched the consultation to get the views of the Aberdeen public on the future of the gardens.
In a statement the city council claimed The City Square Project would improve the quality of life for people in the region and also help safeguard the north-east’s economic future.
The statement continued, “Aberdeen City and Shire has one chance to get this right”.
The city square model involves raising the gardens to street level and creating a concrete piazza with further facilities below.
Last week the union Unite voiced its concerns regarding the public cost of the development in the current economic climate.
