Aberdeen's failure to make the shortlist for UK City of Culture 2017 was down to a lack of Scottish Government funding, a senior councillor has claimed.
The city did not make the shortlist for the title while Dundee was one of four cities selected by the panel.
City of Culture judges described Aberdeen's artistic and cultural expertise as "limited" and said its bid lacked a "coherent vision" and a "wow factor", according to feedback by researchers Regeneris Consulting.
The panel also felt that there could have been more passion and that the bid did not deliver a compelling case.
Aberdeen Council finance convener Willie Young said Dundee's £45 million V&A museum project, which has received £18 million from the Scottish Government, is likely to have swayed judges.
In contrast, Aberdeen is holding out for private sector funding for a £30 million art gallery project, and is still reeling from the divisions over its troubled Union Terrace Gardens redevelopment, he said.
Mr Young, who was Labour's candidate in the recent Aberdeen Donside Holyrood by-election, said: "Aberdeen gets the least amount of money from the Scottish Government of all local authorities, so we are very much driven by the private sector.
"Dundee gets 80% of their money from the public sector, whereas Aberdeen gets less than 50%.
"The V&A is all public money, whereas the Scottish Government has not one building in Aberdeen other than police and fire.
"We are developing our art gallery at a cost of £30 million, of which we are hoping to get £10 million from the private sector, but they have to step up to the plate.
"We are also looking at what we are going to do with Union Terrace Gardens, an issue that divided the city and didn't help anybody as we moved forward with our bid for City of Culture.
"We had a private sector offer on Union Terrace Gardens of £50 million from Sir Ian Wood, but of course it came with huge conditions one of which was to borrow £90 million which we felt was unsustainable.
"The judges obviously decided that the V&A had more of a 'wow factor' than what we had, and the only reason they can develop the V&A is because they are getting money from the public sector and we aren't. That is the link that I am trying to make.
"I haven't seen Dundee's feedback but I would be interested in seeing it. We want to work with Dundee now as we are only 60 miles up the road to see if there are any spin-offs for Aberdeen.
"The judges have also said that we have strong chance if we continue to work towards City of Culture 2021."
A spokesman for Dundee City Council said: "We are delighted that we were shortlisted as one of the final four bids.
"A lot of work is currently going on with all of our partners to develop a strong offering for final submission in September."
SNP MSP Mark McDonald, who beat Mr Young into second place at the Aberdeen Donside by-election last month, said: "The argument that public funding was an issue is ludicrous, and in any event the SNP Government has delivered millions more in funding for Aberdeen, which Councillor Young's Labour colleagues in the central belt attacked.
"Nowhere in the feedback is Scottish Government funding mentioned as a weakness of the bid. In fact one of the key strengths of the bid was the strong interest from the private sector to fund cultural activity.
"The notion that this had anything to do with Scottish Government funding is just yet more sour grapes from the Aberdeen Labour party, who are more interested in blaming others than taking responsibility, and who continually fail to acknowledge the additional money Aberdeen receives thanks to the SNP.
"It is disappointing that Labour want to cast accusations and try to pass blame around when it is their administration of the city which has lacked vision and failed to deliver. It is also worrying that the bid was labelled as lacking in passion, given that the deputy leader of the council was supposedly working flat-out to deliver a successful outcome."
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