THE launch of a landmark project has turned into an embarrassing blunder for a Better Together council after its “soft opening” was delayed while the area remained "a mud bath".

The Union Terrace Gardens were due to be partially revealed to the public on Tuesday morning after three years of major redevelopment work, but were called off at the last minute by the Tory and Labour controlled Aberdeen City Council.

It is an embarrassment for the local authority which said it had hoped a small section of the garden would have been suitable to be unveiled to show off progress on the £28.3 million project.

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The area remains under construction and pictures taken at the scene show machines still working on the building site.

Kevin Stewart, the SNP MSP for Aberdeen Central, slammed the "shambolic" attempts to reopen the park. 

He told The National: "I'm surprised it's taken until this late in the day for the administration to listen to sense and postpone this ridiculous early opening.

"It would have suited nobody to open the Gardens to the public at a time when they're a mud bath and it would have done untold damage to the reputation of the council and this city.

"I am worried that the postponement was only announced on the day of the planned opening though.

I fear we may yet see another shambolic attempt to open Union Terrace Gardens before the elections."

He added: "The Tory-led administration have some cheek to blame this on supply chain issues though, given it was their Government that imposed Brexit on us and caused these."

Council officials and the construction company involved have blamed “supply chain issues”.

Guy Ingerson, a Greens candidate in the city, said the debacle would “erode” trust in the council because the council “people could see with their own eyes it wasn’t going to be ready”.

He added: “It’s an active building site, there’s barely a tree on-site now and it’s essentially a mud pile.

“The Aberdeen Labour-Tory administration should be embarrassed. It was clearly an election ploy and it’s turned into not only a PR disaster for them but a PR disaster for the city.

“It makes the city look really bad.”

Aberdeen City council has been run by a Labour and Tory coalition since 2017.

The so-called Aberdeen Nine who entered into a deal with the Conservatives were suspended from the party over the move and are yet to be reinstated though they have been allowed to stand for re-election in this year’s local elections.

Anas Sarwar, the leader of Scottish Labour, has said the party will not enter into coalitions with other parties in a widely criticised move since it is unlikely any councils will be controlled by a group with a clear majority.

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Aberdeen City Council chief executive Angela Scott said: "The decision not to proceed with today’s soft opening followed advice from our construction partner Balfour Beatty.

“The council is naturally disappointed that the event can’t go ahead but we look forward to the full opening in due course." 

A Balfour Beatty spokesperson said: “External factors such as Covid-19 and more recently material supply issues continue to disrupt construction projects across the UK.

“As we move towards the anticipated completion of Union Terrace Gardens this summer we continue to work with our supply chain to minimise these effects.”