Locals battle development plans threatening Torry’s only green space. Five years of campaigning continue.
Torry has a proud history with roots that go back centuries. Old Torry was a fishing village, but it got destroyed in the 1970s. This made space for the oil industry. Scott works for Friends of the Earth Scotland, while Richard Caie and Ishbel Shand also campaign.
They fought for five years to stop the park being paved over. Ishbel calls developers “subsidy junkies.” St Fittick’s Park is Torry’s only green space. In 2020, Sir Ian Wood announced plans for an “energy transition zone” near the city.
Later, people learned St Fittick’s might be used for the energy transition zone. ETZ Ltd formed in 2021, with Wood chairing this non-profit. They planned to develop the area and promised 2,500 jobs. Also, they stated they would create £400m in growth.
ETZ plans to use a third of the park, and it will become energy sites with harbor access. Their website says they’ll partner with people and use world-class knowledge. The project will help Scotland reach Net Zero targets, and they stated they would bring job security.
Scott disagrees about the project and feels it’s a corporate free for all. Richard showed me a heron that rested in a pond nearby. Soon, that area will have construction trucks. Torry has long been an industrial area.
For years, Torry hosted a sewage plant, and it also became home to a landfill. You can find an incinerator and fuel storage there, too. Richard said industrialists used Torry long ago. They needed gravel in the 1880s.
They took gravel from the beach, which bordered the Bay of Nigg. The beach used to have golden sands; after the gravel removal, sands eroded. That was the first thing taken from Torry, and the fight never truly ends.
Ishbel remembers winning against an incinerator in 2003. They got told it would never be built. But sixteen years later, there was the same plan. There wasn’t the same push against it. “If they don’t get it one way, they’ll get it another.”
A waste facility opened in 2023 that burns waste that can’t be recycled. A doctor, Adrian Crofton, warned about this project. St Fittick’s redevelopment might impact health. He spoke to me on the phone.
He said the park area has the worst health in north Scotland. People there are less healthy compared to others. Local schools say kids feel lost and lack a sense of belonging. This impact is hard to measure, but damage exists.
Life expectancy is lower in Torry. It is about ten years less than richer areas. Those areas have green spaces and forests. Crofton mentioned Wood’s access to woodland, which is fifteen acres of beauty.
Crofton said people in Torry feel resigned. Scott agreed that public trust is low. This happened here due to an erosion of trust: past events cause these problems. The councillors seemed to change positions.
SNP and Lib Dem opposed it before, but they switched their minds after being elected. Labour also changed. Each council decision got approval by ministers. Scott thinks it connects to funding, because about £60 million is tied to the project.
He said politicians don’t want to investigate because they already invested money. An investigation risks the project’s failure. They would lose face if it failed. Legal action began in 2023, and they claimed it violated equality laws.
The Court of Session rejected their claims last summer. Solicitors appealed that decision. Holyrood ministers declined to stop the project because they feared drainage problems could cause flooding.
A spokesperson said the issue is under review, so the council can’t comment now. But, the council did not make a development decision yet. The council considered it in September, and due process was followed.
I paused in the park and looked at the green fields covered in snow. St Fittick’s Church stood far away. A yellow digger worked near the church, and there’s a graveyard by the church too. It holds people who lived before oil.
They were fishers who faced storms. They tried to provide for their families. Their descendants continue the fight today.