Proposed new East Yorkshire Buses Depot and Park & Ride in Dunswell

There is currently a live planning application with East Riding of Yorkshire Council for a new East Yorkshire Buses depot and Park and Ride at Dunswell - reference 24/03336/STPLF - occupying the space of land between Raich Carter Way, Beverley Road and the Hull built up area. Restaurants and a petrol station are also proposed.

I won't comment on the non-bus elements of the proposal, nor on the local concerns raised. However there are a lot of interesting aspects as far as buses in the region are concerned. 

The new East Yorkshire Buses depot is proposed to replace both the existing Anlaby Road and Elloughton depots. The planning application covering letter states the new depot will "be more efficient, better for staff and allow the company to expand its routes and make it easier to introduce electric buses". The Planning Statement refers to Anlaby Road and Elloughton depots as making "vehicle maintenance and movement difficult", "difficult to make up to date" and "not well located for staff". The Planning Statement also notes the potential for the new depot to "reduce operating costs through savings in utility bills".

The argument being made in favour of the new depot being more modern, cheaper for utilities and easier to service electric buses is logical and easy to understand; Anlaby Road and Elloughton are old depots on constrained sites. Presumably there are also some economies of scale from combining two depots into one.

Is it the right location though? Firstly there isn't going to be much choice for East Yorkshire Buses. Hull doesn't have much industrial development land within the City Council boundary, hence the big push when Smith & Nephew said there were leaving the city to ensure their current site remained in commercial use, not redeveloped for residential. Within the East Riding of Yorkshire Council area, options aren't great. The Saltend area is earmarked for energy and port related developments, Melton would be rather remote from most of the Hull area East Yorkshire Buses network. I'm not saying it would be impossible to find another site, but neither would it be easy.

Dunswell is in a good location to serve both Hull and Beverley from one location. The flipside though is the significantly increased distance from Paragon Interchange compared to Anlaby Road depot. It won't be as easy or quick to move staff or vehicles between the two. A five minute journey becomes around twenty minutes. 

As for services within the Elloughton/Brough area, Dunswell is poorly located. Dunswell to Elloughton is half an hour at best (discounting roads not suitable for buses). Dunswell to Goole is forty five minutes. Some services could be worked from the Hull 'end' of the route, but otherwise dead mileage is set to increase. However Elloughton is a small depot, so maybe the savings generated by depot consolidation outweigh the dead mileage? It's also worth noting that extensive dead mileage doesn't seem to be off-putting for operators these days, especially on tendered work.

For the staff it will largely depend on where they currently live. Any East Yorkshire Buses staff in the Elloughton area for example face a significantly longer commute. Orchard Park, notably shorter.

As for the park and ride, the application proposes diverting existing services via the site, which to be fair can be done with a limited time penalty. Given the low usage of Hull's existing Park and Ride at Priory Park, it seems a sensible approach to finally deliver the long talked about Northern Park and Ride with low operating costs. It's also in a reasonable location for a Beverley southern Park and Ride. The application also talks about being used as a hospital Park and Ride - though there is currently no service past the site to Hull Royal Infirmary and an unattractive hourly frequency to Castle Hill Hospital.

Overall I'm a bit 'on the fence'.