Thanks to Friends of the Earth Scotland for sharing this call to action from a working class community in Aberdeen. Residents in Torry, just south of Aberdeen, are having their only green space threatened by an oil industry land grab in the name of ‘energy transition’. The group has been campaigning to protect their local park and for a just transition that meaningfully includes local communities.
The oil industry and Aberdeen City Council are planning to destroy a much-loved greenspace called St Fitticks Park, which lies in the heart of Torry, a community in the south of Aberdeen. The council, together with a consortium of oil companies and Aberdeen Harbour want to dig up the park and build an ‘Energy Transition Zone’. This project now also has funding from the Scottish Government.
St Fitticks Park is the main greenspace in Torry and is enjoyed by generations of Torry residents, as well as attracting people from outside the community due to its thriving wetland, which is a home to a variety wildlife.
A community group has formed to resist the proposals (The Friends of St Fitticks) and they have various plans to safeguard the future of the park. They support the idea of an energy transition zone in response to the climate emergency, but argue this should be located on vacant industrial land to the south and west of Torry, not on their beloved greenspace.
Unwanted industrial development has been imposed on the people of Torry down the years. In the 1970’s homes were demolished to make way for a harbour expansion to accommodate the new oil industry, but many people living in Torry have seen little economic benefit from an industry that dominates the city. So once again they are fighting one of the most powerful industries in the world.
On Saturday 28th August, local people will gather in the park for St Fitticks day. We need to show that the community has wider support and help them to get their message heard. Please show your solidarity with the people of Torry, by either:
A) Taking a photo with ’Save Saint Fitticks Park’ placards (on your own or with your group) in your local green space and posting on social media with #HandsOffStFitticks
B) Share the graphic on social media with #HandsOffStFitticks
You can read more about the local struggle on the Friends of the Earth Scotland website.
#HandsOffStFitticks
Employment, Energy and Environment 
While this should not even be an issue, and the Scottish government should absolutely not be giving a penny to this, your article doesn’t say anything about planning permission, and also that Aberdeen City council is a Tory one maybe even a Tory/Labour coalition one(?) as is the case with quite a few councils around Scotland, where the SNP won a majority of seats but are pushed out by Labour/Tory parties’ coalitions, most often it seems, to the detriment of those areas.
If peatlands are being destroyed for this it would be utterly tragic, peatlands are massive carbon sinks and must never be destroyed or damaged.
I made this comment on another blog about Scotland’s The Flow Country up in Caithness.
Peatlands are huge carbon sinks, Scotland has The Flow Country up in Caithness, which was being restored a couple of years ago, (now stopped) partly with EU money, since it was drained in the 80’s as a tax evasion scheme set up by the English government, for the rich and famous and even more rich the royals. They offset (evaded) tax by planting pine tress, (acid loving plants) so drained our peatlands to do that. The Flow country area is absolutely vast, it is ten metres deep and is a haven for specific wildlife. It still needs money to restore it and keep it from deteriorating, and, it needs full and permanent World Heritage Status protection, but guess who has to ‘approve’ that? Yep, the EngGov. So it’s been on the tentative list since 2012, it has all criteria in place to be awarded WHS, but no, it has limited protection under UK/Eng rule. It’s a massive carbon sink
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