Funding Boost to establish new Bus Service

The reduction of bus service in our area has been an on-going concern for a few years now.  Reduced frequency, withdrawal of evening services and eventually the withdrawal of the number 5 service and the re-routing of the number 15 led to a number of angry public meetings with the bus company - First Aberdeen, and local council representatives.

At meeting of Aberdeen Council on Thursday 25 February, Councillor Ross Thomson, Hazlehead/Ashley/Queens Cross, was successful in securing funding to improve the bus service in this community.

His bid for budget funding of £80,000 - £35,000 to support a new evening service and £45,000 for a shuttle bus to support residents in the lower Deeside area - was approved.

The proposed services will reinstate much needed evening transport and access to amenities and services in Mannofield.

Council officials will now draw up a timetable for the provision of the new services and begin the process of defining routes and services, inviting tenders and awarding contracts. This will take some tome, so don't expect the new services immediately.

The Community Council would like to thank Councillor Thomson and our other local Councillors for their efforts in ensuring that the Braeside and Mannofield areas have a bus service that is fit for purpose, and the City council for their financial support to the Community.

Once the new services are in operation it is essential that they are supported and that we, as a community, use the facilities as frequently as possible.  If we don't use them we might lose them.

Councillor Thomson has also confirmed that there is to be a further public meeting to discuss the issues.

The provisional date for that meeting is the 17th March 2016.  Full details of the date, time, and location of the the meeting will circulated in due course.

Pedestrian Crossing - Great Western Road

At the Community Council meeting in January, the issue of the provision of pedestrian crossing facilities in Great Western Road near its junction with Morningside Road at the Tesco Supermarket was raised.

 

It was agreed that, with the number of home and bus stops in the immediate environs, along with the development of the Tesco store, the Circles café, and the Laundry on the south side of the Great Western Road, the number of people crossing Great Western Road at this location has increased in recent times.  

We have written to Aberdeen City Council suggesting that the provision of a facilitated pedestrian crossing at this location is no longer a “nice to have” but has become a “need to have” to prevent injury accidents involving pedestrians in the future.  The council's response is awaited.

Community Council Meeting

The next meeting of the Community Council will be on Tuesday 23 February 2016 at 7pm 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

Local Policing Report - January 2016

Inspector Ian McKinnon of the West End Local Policing Team has forwarded a report on the January 2016 police statistics for our area.

The main points of the report are:

Quality of life calls have increased by 2 to 7
(Motorcycle annoyance (1),drug/substance misuse (2) and public nuisance (4)

There were 2 reported Housebreakings and 2 reported thefts from motor vehicles.  3 Vandalisms were reported and 1 incident of Possession of drugs detected.

Overall reported crimes were down by 2

The local policing team are based at Whinhill and request that if any suspicious activity is seen they are contacted, either as an emergency on 999 or on the Police Scotland Service Centre at 101.

Follow the Local Policing Team on Twitter @AberdeenSPolice   #WestEndCPT

Also available are the three following contact email addresses for the West End:

AiryhallBroomhillGarthdeeCPT@Scotland.pnn.police.uk
HazleheadAshleyQueensCrossCPT@Scotland.pnn.police.uk
TorryFerryhillCPT@scotland.pnn.police.uk

Click here to download Inspector McKinnon's report

Minutes of Meeting - 26 January 2016

 The minutes of the Community Council meeting of 26 January 2016 are now available by clicking here, or by using the link in the Document Archive Section on the right of this page.

If there are issues within them, or comments that you want to make, please feel free to leave a comment here or email us on bandmcommcouncil@gmail.com

The next meeting of the Community Council will be preceded by the Annual General Meeting which will commence at 7pm prompt on Tuesday 23 February 2016 within the Community Room at Airyhall Primary School.

First Bus Meeting - Reminder

This is just a gentle reminder that the First Bus company bosses will be at a "drop in session" to be held at Airyhall Library between 11am and 3pm on Saturday 13 February 2016.

Since the end of last year there have been many complaints and comments about the First Bus decision to amalgamate their 5 and 15 services.  

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.

If you cannot make the session, you can still make your feelings known by emailing customer.services@firstgroup.com or by telephoning 01224 650000