Council drops legal threat against Police Scotland

The council had considered seeking a judicial review of the decision to merge the two units for the north east of Scotland.

In January, the single unit was created through the amalagamation of Aberdeen City with Aberdeenshire and Moray.

The move came as Police Scotland made an unpopular decision to close its control room in Aberdeen.

Labour candidate in next month’s Holyrood election, Lewis Macdonald, said policing in the region had been downgraded.

He said: “It’s not five minutes since we had a police force which served Grampian alone. We’re now in a position where we have a single division to cover the whole of the region.

“Police Scotland have consistently failed to provide figures for levels of resource. The very fact that they’re not willing to identify spend on a localised level is quite suggestive.”

He added: “Aberdeen has certainly lost out . I don’t think there’s any doubt about that.”

However, superintendent George MacDonald said the single force engaged with the community over the move.

He said: “While acknowledging it is for the chief constable to decide the divisional structure within which the direction and control of police officers is carried out, the decision to proceed was subject to consideration and oversight by the Scottish Police Authority.

“The SPA board were satisfied that appropriate local engagement had taken place and that any issues raised had been considered by Police Scotland and reflected in the revised plans.