First Aberdeen has now submitted notice to withdraw all services from Kingswells with their last day of operation being 1st April 2017. Following their shock announcement last September, the confirmation has now been received by Aberdeeen City Council. This follows on from two public drop in sessions and numerous meetings between the council and First over the past few months.

Kingswells councillor Steve Delaney has been working with all interested parties throughout. He said, “This has hardly come as a surprise, but it takes nothing away from the anger surrounding their decision. My view remains that First will always put profit before people and they have absolutely no regard for the social or economic impact of their decisions”.

“From the outset I made it clear that my aim was to ensure we retain bus services to the village, so we must now look towards securing the best possible outcome for Kingswells”.

Steve had a very positive meeting with Stagecoach’s management recently. He said, “Stagecoach has shown an interest in operating a service in Kingswells and are currently looking at how best they may be able to serve the area. This is not cut and dried, but they are interested and I remain hopeful of a positive outcome”.

Aberdeen City Council intends holding a public meeting in Kingswells next month, by which time the final outcome should have become clearer. It is vital that as many people as possible attend this meeting.

Steve said, “We’re not out of the woods yet as some challenges remain, but there is some light at the end of the tunnel. I will of course keep everyone up to date as more details emerge and I am currently preparing a Focus newsletter for distribution as soon as I have more information”.