Look Out, There's A Thief About

At the most recent meeting of the Community Council, Inspector Ian McKinnon of Police Scotland reported that there had been a number of break ins to garages in the area in the last few weeks.

He advised that garages should always be closed and locked and that valuables should be kept out of sight.

If you see anyone acting suspiciously then you should contact Police Scotland straight away.  He said that he would rather have officers turn out to a well intentioned false alarm than the report of another crime.

Disappearing Trees - an update

Aberdeen City Council have responded to our request for information about tree removal and replacement.

They say that given the number of empty "tree pits" across the city, it is not possible to replace all street trees.

We are currently looking to compile a list of which trees should be replaced as a matter of priority.

If you have any suggestions please feel free to comment below or to drop us an email on bandmcommcouncil@gmail.com

Situation Vacant

Can you help?

The Community Council desperately needs the services of a volunteer to act as it’s Secretary.

The role involves acting as the hub of information and point of contact for the Community Council, circulating information to members, collating responses and answering queries by letter and Email.

If you have the time, and the skills to help us out, we would love to hear from you.

Email us on bandmcommcouncil@gmail.com and we will get back in touch with you.

Bus Re-routing - An Invitation

Our friends at the Craigiebuckler and Seafield Community Council have extended an open invitation to meet and listen to the guest speaker - David Phillips the Managing Director of  First Aberdeen - at their next meeting.  

 

The meeting is from 7.30pm to 9.30pm on Tuesday, 2nd February 2016 at The Douglas Lounge, Craigiebuckler Church Hall, 185 Springfield Rd, Aberdeen AB15 8AA .

The rerouting of the No 15 to cover the withdrawn No 5 service has been operational for some time now. Is this service adequate to meet the needs of the travelling public?  What is your view?

Mr Phillips will seek residents' views on the recent changes to the bus service provision to Craigiebuckler and Airyhall.

Community Council Meeting

The next meeting of the Community Council will be on Tuesday 26 January 2016 at 7pm. The meeting will be held in the Community Room at Airyhall Primary School, Countesswells Road.  Please leave comments below if there are any issues you would wish us to discuss, or should you wish to come along - ALL WELCOME

To view the Agenda click here

The minutes of the last meeting of the Community Council can be viewed by clicking here

School Rezoning

 Aberdeen City Council have gone to public consultation regarding the rezoning of Airyhall and Hazlehead Primary Schools and the effect on Airyhall school roll.  The proposed changes are explained in a document circulated by the City Council.  In brief the changes concern primary school age children in the Macauley, Pinewood and Hazledene estates.  In brief, the proposal is to rezone the Macauley estate from Hazlehead to Airyhall Primary School and to zone the developments at Pinewood/Hazledene to the Hazlehead Primary School.

The Council are keen to have feedback on the proposals and any views should be made known in writing or by email by 5.00pm on Monday 29 February 2016.

For ease of access the full proposal document can be downloaded by clicking here

Bus Route latest

Councillor Ian Yuill circulates an Enewsletter to residents in the area. The most recent copy has an update on a meeting between him, some of his fellow councillors and the First Aberdeen Managing Director, David Phillips.  The following is an extract from Councillor Yuill's Enewsletter.  To see the full article click here.

To subscribe to Councillor Yuill's Enewsletter click here or go to http://bit.ly/1mfSArP

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Along with Craigiebuckler councillors Martin Greig and Jennifer Stewart, I met recently with First Aberdeen Managing Director David Phillips. We emphasised to Mr Phillips just how unhappy residents continued to be with First Aberdeen’s changes to bus services and again urged him to reconsider that decision. Amongst the points Mr Phillips made to us in reply were:

• First Aberdeen is not prepared to reverse the changes to our bus services
• First Aberdeen is not prepared to divert any service 19 buses along Countesswells Road as had been suggested at the public meeting on 21^st October
• First Aberdeen is not prepared to provide a service along Springfield Road to Mannofield and then onto Garthdee as the company does not believe this would be profitable
• First Aberdeen will remove the service 15 halt at Craigiebuckler which should speed journeys from the city centre to Airyhall
• He plans to organise an event to be held in our area shortly to allow First Aberdeen to share information about First Aberdeen’s plans

Martin Greig, Jennifer Stewart and I made it clear that, whilst we welcomed the decision to remove the halt at Craigiebuckler, we were very disappointed that First Aberdeen was not prepared to reconsider the changes to bus services given the huge level of unhappiness these had caused.

I have contacted Aberdeen City Council’s Director of Communities, Housing and Infrastructure and urged that the council reconsider providing financial support for socially necessary, although unprofitable, bus services. If the council were to agree to do this it would allow it to invite bus companies to tender to provide a service from Airyhall, along Great Western Road to the city centre and so restore the link upon which many residents depend.

Bus Route Changes - Public Meeting

Since September the bus routes in the area, the 5 and the 15, have been amalgamated adding time, inconvenience and frustration to the bus users of Braeside, Mannofield, Craigiebuckler and Seafield.

Strength of feeling on the changes has been running high and in October about 500 residents attended a public meeting at Airyhall to voice their concerns.  With such a high turnout, it was not possible for all that wanted, to make their point or ask their questions.

Since October, our local councillors have been working, behind the scenes, to try and reach some solutions with First Bus.  The latest initiative is for the First Bus company bosses to be present at a "drop in session" to be held at Airyhall Library between 11am and 3pm on Saturday 13 February 2016.

This is a great opportunity to make the feelings of the residents known to the bus company management, so please come along, at some time during the session, and express your opinion or ask your questions.  Without widespread support there is little chance that anything will change anytime soon.  The more people that turn out, the more pressure on the bus company to provide a bus service that is fit for purpose for our Communities.