The Inner House reclaiming motion (appeal) of McLean v Aberdeen City Council is being livestreamed from 10.30am on Friday, 4 April 2025.
Update: the hearing concluded and the Court made avizandum. The full hearing can be watched again here: https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/livestream/court-of-session/case-p868-23/
St Fittick’s Park is a public park in Torry, Aberdeen. Aberdeen City Council have identified the park as an area suitable for development as an Energy Transition Zone. This will involve leasing part of the park to Energy Transition Zone Limited (ETZ), a “private-sector-led and not-for-profit company” intended to “reposition the [North East of Scotland] as a globally recognised new and green energy cluster” with funding from the Scottish and UK governments.
The practical result of this is that a large part of the park will be redeveloped into an industrial area for green energy. On 19 June 2023, the council adopted a Local Development Plan which earmarked the park as suitable for future redevelopment along these lines. A meeting of the full council on 11 September 2023 resolved, among other things, to: instruct the Council’s Chief Officer that the park was only to be made available for lease and had to remain in the Council’s ownership and instruct the Chief Officer to enter formal dialogue with ETZ and the Port of Aberdeen to discuss the optimum partnership arrangements to take forward the future development of the site.
Mr McLean now reclaims (appeals) against the Lord Ordinary’s decision to the Inner House on the following grounds: First, the Lord Ordinary was wrong to characterise the council’s resolution of 11 September 2023 as merely a decision to investigate. The evidence before him should have led him to determine the resolution of 11 September 2023 was a substantive policy decision to partner with ETZ and the Port of Aberdeen to industrialise the park.
Second, the Lord Ordinary was wrong to decide that the resolution of 11 September 2023 was not one which required the drawing up of a full equality impact assessment. For their part, the council maintain the Lord Ordinary’s decision was correct and ask the court to refuse the reclaiming motion.
The reclaiming motion will be argued before the Extra Division, chaired by Lord Malcolm, sitting with Lord Armstrong and Lord Clark.
Joanna Cherry KC and Mike Dailly, Solicitor Advocate, appear on behalf of the reclaimer and petitioner. The instructing solicitor for the reclaimer is Charis Brooks, Solicitor at GLC, with Laura McDonagh, Partner at Drummond Miller LLP acting as Edinburgh agents. Niall McLean, Solicitor Advocate appears for the respondent, as instructed by Brodies LLP.
