New park and ride is ruse to sneak 'ghastly' scheme through planning back door
A NEW park-and-ride is a ‘Trojan horse’ to sneak a ‘ghastly’ development through the planning back door, councillors say.
Hull Council leader Mike Ross and his ward councillors Lucy Lennon and Paul Drake-Davis have written to East Riding planners to object to £40m plans for a bus depot, drive through restaurants, petrol station, and a park and ride in north Hull.
Earlier this month Ashcourt Construction submitted revised plans for the scheme earmarked for a wedge of land between the A1079 Beverley Road and A1174 Raich Carter Way, which is currently grazing for horses.
The developers propose a 3-m acoustic fence as well as a landscaped area between houses to the south and the development, which includes a facility for East Yorkshire Buses, replacing its 100-year-old depot on Anlaby Road as well as a 490-space park and ride.
But the councillors say the fence isn’t the required “substantial” landscaped buffer and doesn’t make up for the lost greenery.
They say residents’ peace and sleep will be disturbed by mechanics working day and night to maintain the 200-strong fleet and that bus stops and waiting areas are “just metres away” from peoples’ back gardens.
They claim: “The squeezing in of a Park & Ride aspect still seems to be just a ruse or, a trojan (sic) horse to try and sneak this ghastly, oversized development in through a planning back door.
“This remains a completely inappropriate location for such a large, noisy and polluting facility, which will have a huge detrimental effect on the current amenity enjoyed by many of our residents.”
Developers say the land has been allocated for a decade in the East Riding Local Plan as a park and ride and it will will reduce congestion and improve take up of public transport in the area.
The park and ride will provide fast links between Hull and Beverley as well as the two major hospitals, Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital.