GA up here is a shadow of its former self due to many factors, largely due to the devastation left behind from a former flying 'academy' together with an anti light aircraft attitude from BAA/NATS.
Your quite right there Skywalker,
I remember the days of a busy flying club at Aberdeen with sometimes a couple of light aircraft in the circuit and ATC having a good level of trust of the local FI's allowing them to sneak in and out of gaps in the traffic.
The final nail in the coffin was when the airport operator banned any circuits at Aberdeen with a club already in decline due to rapidly rising costs.
Such a shame, as you say GA out of Aberdeen is pretty much dead other than a couple of locally based aircraft.
Regards
UA