Aberdeen City’s revenue budget for the coming year will see the Council spend £433m on key services such as planning, infrastructure and the environment.

£50.4m is to be spent on enterprise, planning and infrastructure, £39.9m on housing and environment, £174.7m is to be spent on education, culture and sport, £123.4m on social care and wellbeing and £27.7m on corporate governance.

Council tax levels will be frozen at current levels, with the Band D average remaining at £1,230.39 in 2013/14, excluding water charges.

£300m has been set aside for a five-year capital investment programme to make Aberdeen a 'Smarter City'.

The programme includes £32m for an art gallery refurbishment and a new museums collection centre, £13m to create a Tillydrone Care Village and £2.6m for children's home and respite centre upgrades.

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£32m will go towards a new academy for the south of the city and £14m on a purpose-build additional support needs centre on the Raeden site.

£11.75m is being allocated to a new Milltimber primary school and £11.5m to a new Bucksburn/Newhills Primary.

£6m will be spent on a new materials recovery facility, £5m on an energy from waste plant, £3.5m for a composting plant and £3m for household waste recycling centres.

£20m has been approved for central Aberdeen infrastructure, including the long-awaited Berryden Corridor improvements and Union Street pedestrianisation.

£10.1m will go towards an A96 park-and-choose facility and £5.2m towards a Dyce Drive/International Airport link road.

City Council Leader Councillor Barney Crockett said: "The budget shows ambitious investment in the vital services we provide to the citizens of Aberdeen to ensure we continue to lead the way forward as an ambitious, achieving, smart city. We have already laid out our vision in 'Aberdeen – The Smarter City' and now we are beginning the process of delivering on our promises to our citizens.

"This is a new chapter in the history of Aberdeen, marked by a budget which contains no further budget cuts. This is the first time in the history of Aberdeen City Council that this has been achieved."

(IT)