Alex Rowley sets out the up to date position with the bus request for the Great North Road Housing Estate in Kelty.
I put out a letter and survey at the back end of last year that included a question about a proposal to re route a bus service up Seafar Drive on an hourly basis to service that estate. The background to this is that I had received a copy of a petition that Helen Eadie MSP had received from the Great North Road Residents Association asking for a bus service to service the Great North Road estate. She had submitted the survey to transport officials.
On receiving the petition I talked to officials in Fife Council who then came up with a proposal to re-route the Cowdenbeath bus and hence my letter and questions as I decided I should consult on this before agreeing it. I decided at that point that I would put out a letter and survey throughout the estate explaining the back ground and asking for people’s views. I then discovered that there had been a previous survey carried out by Helen Eadie in Seafar Drive and there had been a majority against a bus. In the responses I received back from my survey which had been sent to all streets in the Great North Road estate there was a majority in favour.
I had received a number of e mails from residents and one question that was asked by quite a few people was where would the bus stops go. I had got this clarified that there would be no bus stops and people would simply flag the bus down. Given that at this point while a majority of those who came back to me said they were ok with a bus, I was now aware of the previous survey and taking on board all the comments I had received. I went to the Great North Road Residents Association and explained the position.
I also explained to them that I had asked the council officials not to go ahead with re routing the bus until such time as the Residents Association has taken a view. I suggested that the best way for this to be done would be for the Resident Association to consult with all residents in the estate. I hope this explains the background to this issue. No decision has been made on this matter and the matter now sits with the Great North Road Residents Association. The Residents Association is currently consulting and meets on the last Monday of the month at 7pm.
Every resident of the estate is welcome and indeed has a right to go along to the meeting to give you views on the issues for your area.
So the up to date position is that no decision has been taken to introduce a bus service. There are people for and against a bus service and the residents association has been asked to consult and take a view and then we will be able to look at how best to proceed.
