Business booming
Aberfoyle residents have backed bus travel proposals which will see a Cambusbarron‘detour’cut from the service which links the Strathard communities with Stirling.
Cambusbarron residents had complained that the loop around Wallace Place, Gillies Hill and Cambusbarron had been removed from the new C11 bus timetable.
They said the move would disadvantage elderly and disabled residents in the village.
However, both residents from Aberfoyle and Cambusbarron have welcomed the inclusion of stops at Forth Valley College and the new Stirling Community Hospital in the route.
An Aberfoyle resident told the Observer last week the Cambusbarron detour, implemented two years ago, had caused “hardship”to Strathard communities.
She said:“The new proposal, which will revert the C11 (Aberfoyle)/C12 (Balfron) back to their original route but go on to provide a much-needed circular link to Forth Valley College, the community hospital, Cambusbarron and back to the bus station, was overwhelmingly backed by the Aberfoyle communities.
“With the new proposal Cambusbarron would still retain its existing eight services per day, compared to Aberfoyle which has only five, with the last bus out of the area leaving at 4.35pm.
“All rural villages to the north and west of Stirling have suffered severe cuts to bus services in recent years, some having been left with no service at all.
“In view of the distances passengers from this area are having to travel to get to Stirling, and the damage the current situation is doing to rural economies, it is imperative that the new proposals go ahead to relieve the pressure on Aberfoyle and the other C11/C12 villages caused by this Cambusbarron detour.”
Stirling Council held consultation sessions in Aberfoyle and Cambusbarron for further feedback at the end of last month.
Since the bus service is financially supported by the local authority, any changes require approval by council officers . Half of all new companies formed in Stirling are still going strong after five years, figures have revealed.
The city has the fourthhighest survival rate in the UK when it comes to businesses which were started five years ago – with exactly 50 per cent still operating.
Only Aberdeen (53.5 per cent), Winchester (52.8 per cent) and Carlisle (50.8 per cent) have a better rate.
The figures were provided by the Office for National Statistics as it was revealed that across the UK there were more than 620,000 new enterprises registered, with around 70 per cent starting at home.