COUNCILLORS REPORT DECEMBER 2014

Well our wonderful summer is but a distant memory and autumn/winter is upon us.

I do not want to be political, but the one thing that we can take out of the Referendum, is the number of people all over Scotland who engaged in the process. Abernethy was no exception and the fact that so many people are aware of our society is so encouraging. It is also something that we should build on, and I saw that for myself in Abernethy when the community rallied round to help the very unfortunate lady who lost her house to that terrible fire last month. Abernethy folk made a real impact on myself, with the way they quickly raised funds and assisted the house owner in her time of need.

How good it would be if we can keep that spirit going. I’m sure that this already is happening in the community. In cold dark nights, wind and rain meaning we see less of our neighbours. This is the time when it is important to make sure the elderly and vulnerable in our streets are okay in their houses. Ensure that they have their heating on and enough food in the house. Also with the reduction in bus services that has occurred recently, through your excellent Facebook page and the Crier would it be possible to organise car sharing and lifts for folk going to the same location at around the same time for a share of the running expenses? I wouldn’t expect folk to go with complete strangers, but a community such as Abernethy is, most folk either know each other or know someone who knows the other person, surely worth a try? Council funding will not be available to restore the services in the near future. The bus service that has been cut is actually a commercial service, and the provider has withdrawn it as it is now viewed as an unviable route. This has caused quite a bit of controversy in the community, but as upgrading of Buses in the near future is due, it may be that this has some bearing on the provider’s decision, but that is mere speculation by myself. Perhaps the provider will enlighten the community to the reasoning behind their decision. Finally in my last article I tried to bring some clarity to the parking in the Square. We still seem to have issues of parking in the Square. If you are going to an event in the Square is it really necessary to use your car? Or could you double up with a friend and just use one car, or better still use one car amongst three or four people? As well as alleviating the parking issues you would be saving on the carbon footprint around the village Lastly I wish one and all a very Merry Xmas and Happy New Year when it comes.

Cllr. Henry Anderson