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In the Vision for Whitby 2023 consultation, residents declared the bus services inadequate for residents purposes, and that we require a local frequent shuttle bus that covers all areas of town, as well as a bus that connects to local villages.
Everything in this concern comes under the NYC Portfolio of Highways and Transportation, Cllr Keane Duncan.
The health and well-being of Whitby and District residents is dependent on being able to get about their town/villages safely, and with minimal delay. The 2007 Scarborough Borough Council Transport Assessments document states as one of its sustainability objectives “To provide a transport network which encourages the use of public transport, cycling and walking and minimises traffic congestion“. As can be seen from our Active Travel analysis, the objective relating to cycling is not being met now, neither was it in 2007. In this section we analyse the objective from the point of view of public transport and traffic, exploring some issues impacting on the town. If you prefer to see a summary in Powerpoint presentation format, you can access one here.
Walking, cycling, scooting. North Yorkshire must increase cycling by 900% by 2030.
Use of buses and trains to get about, both locally and further afield.
Issues with use of cars on roads, road safety, traffic, parking. North Yorkshire must reduce car usage by 48% by 2030.
We currently have a very limited local bus service in many areas of Whitby and District. The 95, X4 and X93 services are commercially provided services with no contract with NYC as such. The 96 service is subsidised by NYC with NYC defining the route. The Park-and-Ride bus is contracted with NYC for a particular route and particular stops (and so cannot stop at intermediate places for residents).
With an aging population in the town it is essential that there is a bus service close to all residential areas to avoid isolating parts of the community. Local bus routes should reach close to all residential areas, and should also include essential services like Whitby Hospital and local GPs. Consider having a more eco-friendly approach of a regular electric / hydrogen bus on a circular route. Consider also having separate pricing for residents and for visitors. There is a lack of local bus service for the following areas
Longer distance bus/coach services haven’t improved over the years. Whitby to York takes 2:25 minimum, and now the 840 Coastliner is “under threat”; removal of that service would mean there is no direct public transport from Leeds/York to Whitby (yet Scarborough has a direct train and direct bus). This would leave NYC’s carbon strategy in tatters and they would never reduce car usage by 48% by 2030 (instead it would be increased!).
Provision of faster, more direct coach services would have the potential to reduce the number of car journeys and the subsequent traffic load on the town. If the county strategy is not to provide Whitby and District with direct longer distance travel options, then the bus service to Scarborough should be upgraded in standard, as it is currently very uncomfortable, should be coordinated with trains (which it often is not), and have a more direct faster service, so then people can take advantage of the train services far easier. Anything less than that and the public transport strategy of NYC would be deemed inadequate for the district.
Funding plays a massive part in what is achievable, see this report on rural bus funding.
In the Vision for Whitby 2023 consultation, residents declared the bus services inadequate for residents purposes, and that we require a local frequent shuttle bus that covers all areas of town, as well as a bus that connects to local villages.
For some time the Arriva bus services for the Whitby and District area have been unreliable, and breakdowns are frequent. In June 2023 the company was reported to the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA). This resulted in 2 visits by DVSA to Whitby bus station, and 8 buses being taken out of service, with 3 having to be towed away (as undriveable). This is the standard of bus public transport being provided for residents. We encourage all residents to report any breakdown to the DVSA (csccomplaints@dvsa.gov.uk) and to our MP.
An unreliable bus service requires, as a minimum, a level of information for the bus user so that they know with more certainty when the next bus will arrive. Solar powered real time info boards should be provided at key bus stops throughout the district.
Bus stops are often in remote locations, and additionally the unreliable service means that people may need to stand for long periods. Elderly people simply cannot stand for long periods and so require bus stops with simple seating as a minimum.
Rail services to / from Whitby have been eroded since the 1950s, with the sole external service going via Teesside. Take the sample journey of Whitby to York; this takes a minimum of 3 hours to cover 47 miles whereas Scarborough rail services reach York in 50 minutes. The current service is still having cut backs, see this notification from April 2022 where Northern Rail cut a service. As part of the agreement for the Sirius Minerals (now AngloAmerican) potash mine, an amount of S106 money was paid to fund an extra 3 trains per day, making it 8 trains per day on this line. Sadly the reality is somewhat different, and Northern Rail have cut this back contrary to the agreement due to operational / capacity factors. It is hoped (by AngloAmerican and NYC) that this would return to 8 services per day (from the current 5) in the (near) future. The latest we have on that is the hope to get back to 7 per day by the end of 2024! Please see below for details of the agreement.
Having a connection to Pickering/Malton would allow connecting to York and onwards, providing substantially reduced journey times. Provision of faster, more direct and more frequent rail services would have the potential to reduce the number of car journeys and the subsequent traffic load on the town. As mentioned above, if the strategy is not to provide Whitby with faster more direct services then a fast direct bus service to Scarborough needs to be provided so that train connections from there can be utilised.
The approval of the Woodsmith mine, near Sneaton, in 2015 contained an S106 agreement between North Yorkshire Council, North Yorkshire Moors National Park and York Potash. To quote some sections of the agreement.
Rail Services Contribution
To pay the Rail Service Contribution to the County Council as set out in paragraphs 1.2 and 1.3 below for the purposes of establishing a new train service to increase the existing services between Middlesbrough and Whitby accepting always that the County Council has no obligation to deliver such a service and delivery can only be achieved on the basis that the service is fully funded by YPL or sources other than the County Council.
Five hundred thousand pounds (£500,000) Index Linked payable 12 months after the Commencement of Construction and five hundred thousand pounds (£500,000) Index Linked on the first and second anniversary of the first operation of the Rail Services (comprising £1,500,000 in total plus indexation).
Up to a maximum of two hundred and fifty thousand pounds (£250,000) Index Linked per annum for three years upon receipt of a written demand from the County Council pursuant to paragraph 3 of Schedule 2
Rail Infrastructure Contribution
To pay the Rail Infrastructure Contribution being a maximum sum of four million five hundred thousand pounds (£4,550,000) Index Linked towards the cost of infrastructure upgrades required to facilitate the Rail Services on the Middlesbrough to Whitby rail line in a manner which will avoid a negative impact on the core five train per day services of the North York Moors Historical Railway Trust (NYMR) between Pickering and Whitby such money to be paid as set out in paragraphs 2.2, 2.3 and 2.4 below.
Seven Hundred and Fifty Thousand Pounds (£750,000) Index Linked on the Commencement of Construction Up to a maximum of Fifty Thousand Pounds (£50,000) Index Linked six months from the date of the Planning Permission granted by the NYMNPA to reimburse the County Council for the cost of work carried out or procured by it in the appraisal of options such payment to be made within 28 days of a written demand from the County Council setting out the option appraisal carried out and itemising the monies expended on such appraisal.
Up to three million seven hundred and fifty thousand (£3,750,000) Index Linked following the expiry of a period of 12 months from the Commencement of Construction and within 28 days of a written demand from the County Council setting out the infrastructure works involved and the cost of those works accepting always that the County Council has no obligation to deliver such infrastructure upgrades and delivery can only be achieved on the basis that the infrastructure upgrades are fully funded by YPL or sources other than the County Council.
In the event that the Rail Infrastructure Contribution provides insufficient funds to procure an additional four services between Middlesbrough and Whitby to use its reasonable endeavours to investigate and apply for all alternative sources of funding (such as grant aid) as may be available to supplement the Rail Infrastructure Contribution.
In June 2024 (8+ years on from the agreement) we now have 5 slow trains between Whitby and Middlesbrough on arguably the worst rail line in the country. We await to hear what happened to the money for this “improvement”. Needless to say that, without any further info, to have 8 years and deliver nothing tangible can only be viewed as pathetic.
Note : the S106 agreement with NYC is distinct from the other S106 with the NYMNP.
Based on current figures, in North Yorkshire the percentage of wheelchair accessible registered taxis is just 45 out of 696 (6.5%) registered taxis. In terms of private hire vehicles (PHVs) it is 45 out of 784 (5.7%). The table below is taken from Dept for Transport data for 2023 (select TAXI0104 for the dataset), and selects representative local and national councils to aid comparison. As shown in the table, there are many local authorities that have all of their taxis as wheelchair accessible eg Bradford & Kirklees (more than 100 in this category), with many others, like Leeds (52%), insisting that all new/replacement vehicles are accessible. Cornwall is included as an example of a primarily rural area, similar to North Yorkshire in that regard, yet they are providing better accessible taxi facilities than NYC.
Local authority | Total Taxis | Wheelchair accessible Taxis | %Wheelchair Accessible Taxis | Total PHVs | Wheelchair Accessible PHVs | %Wheelchair Accessible PHVs |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
London | 15,120 | 15,120 | 100.0 | 89,575 | 451 | 0.5 |
Bradford | 213 | 213 | 100.0 | 4,078 | 134 | 3.3 |
South Yorkshire | 807 | 694 | 86.0 | 3,806 | 14 | 0.4 |
Calderdale | 117 | 79 | 67.5 | 1,575 | 2 | 0.1 |
West Yorkshire | 1,159 | 635 | 54.8 | 12,630 | 291 | 2.3 |
Leeds | 514 | 275 | 53.5 | 3,914 | 74 | 1.9 |
York | 181 | 45 | 24.9 | 428 | 45 | 10.5 |
Middlesbrough | 235 | 49 | 20.9 | 553 | 1 | 0.2 |
Cornwall | 618 | 119 | 19.3 | 451 | 32 | 7.1 |
East Riding of Yorkshire | 90 | 12 | 13.3 | 153 | 2 | 1.3 |
North Yorkshire | 696 | 45 | 6.5 | 784 | 45 | 5.7 |
Redcar and Cleveland | 79 | 4 | 5.1 | 247 | 14 | 5.7 |
In accordance with our transparency policy, this table is downloadable in (XLSX) spreadsheet format.
Focussing on the Whitby area, from NYC’s own website there is a single wheelchair accessible taxi in the town (Abbey Taxis), whilst Scarborough has 28. The sole wheelchair taxi in Whitby, operated by Abbey Taxis, is virtually impossible to obtain by phone or pre-booking for a hospital or dental appointment for example. Whilst the DfT data above does not define the divide between boroughs of North Yorkshire for 2023, the data for 2022 does give the split, as follows, for a total of 57 : Craven (2), Hambleton (5), Harrogate (18), Richmondshire (15), Ryedale (2), Scarborough (7), and Selby (8). It should be noted that there is significant disagreement between the numbers provided by the Dept for Transport (from NYC) and those that NYC are providing (either via FOI or their website). Resolving these differences remains a priority.
A member of the North Yorkshire Disability Forum was advised by SBC in February 2022 that NYC would increase the number of wheelchair taxis across North Yorkshire. Yet NYC have since adopted a new 5-year Policy without requiring an increase! The North Yorkshire Disability Forum have obtained a commitment from the NYC Executive for an Inclusive Service Plan or survey to assess the unmet needs of wheelchair users, then make recommendations to the Executive to require more wheelchair taxis to be provided.
The following table is the result of an FOI, showing how NYC taxi levels have changed between end of March 2023 and end of September 2023. As shown, the percentage of wheelchair accessible taxis is actually decreasing. 5 of the former boroughs (licensing authorities) have shown an increase in actual number of wheelchair accessible taxis.
Wheelchair accessible 31/03/2023 | Wheelchair accessible 30/09/2023 | Non-Wheelchair accessible 31/03/2023 | Non-Wheelchair accessible 30/09/2023 | %Wheelchair accessible 31/03/2023 | %Wheelchair accessible 30/09/2023 |
|
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Craven | 1 | 3 | 100 | 105 | 1.0 | 2.8 |
Hambleton | 7 | 9 | 89 | 88 | 7.3 | 9.3 |
Harrogate | 15 | 15 | 132 | 186 | 10.2 | 7.5 |
Richmondshire | 12 | 12 | 69 | 74 | 14.8 | 14.0 |
Ryedale | 3 | 4 | 38 | 44 | 7.3 | 8.3 |
Scarborough | 12 | 13 | 95 | 110 | 11.2 | 10.6 |
Selby | 17 | 18 | 38 | 43 | 30.9 | 29.5 |
Total | 67 | 74 | 561 | 650 | 10.7 | 10.2 |
The following table is the result of an FOI, showing how NYC PHV levels have changed between end of March 2023 and end of September 2023. As shown, the percentage of wheelchair accessible PHV is actually decreasing.
Wheelchair accessible 31/03/2023 | Wheelchair accessible 30/09/2023 | Non-Wheelchair accessible 31/03/2023 | Non-Wheelchair accessible 30/09/2023 | %Wheelchair accessible 31/03/2023 | %Wheelchair accessible 30/09/2023 |
|
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Craven | 1 | 2 | 11 | 10 | 8.3 | 16.7 |
Hambleton | 0 | 0 | 22 | 21 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Harrogate | 4 | 0 | 174 | 136 | 2.2 | 0.0 |
Richmondshire | 2 | 2 | 313 | 376 | 0.6 | 0.5 |
Ryedale | 4 | 3 | 50 | 52 | 7.4 | 5.5 |
Scarborough | 18 | 17 | 147 | 142 | 10.9 | 10.7 |
Selby | 0 | 3 | 81 | 77 | 0.0 | 3.8 |
Total | 29 | 27 | 798 | 814 | 3.5 | 3.2 |
These two tables highlight how the current NYC 5 year licensing policy is not making a positive change to overcome the significant problem of lack of wheelchair accessible vehicles. We can only hope that the ongoing “inclusive service plan” will give the NYC Executive the chance to make a change to this policy.
Whitby DAG will continue to gather feedback from wheelchair users on their experiences of being unable to get a taxi.
A rural county like North Yorkshire can have a dependency on use of a car for transport. The road network needs to work for vehicles, cyclists, and pedestrians. The road network around Whitby has several locations that are inefficient, and also are not as safe as they could be.
This image displays the road collision data of reported collisions between 2018 and 2022 on Whitby roads. There are some clear hotspots, suggesting issues with road speed and / or road design. An interactive version of this map is available HERE. On this map black signifies FATAL, red signifies SERIOUS, and amber signifies SLIGHT. For reference a fatality costs the UK economy the order of £1.7m, whereas a serious casualty costs around £200k.
The following areas would benefit from an assessment and redesign to work better for the safety of Whitby and District residents.
The list as it was at the start of September 2023 was sent to NYC Area 3 Highways, and the reply received is documented on this news post. To paraphrase the reply, NYC have little funds for such improvements, they do not see making a town more pedestrian friendly as a priority, and there would need to be more killed and seriously injured to gain any priority.
In the Vision for Whitby 2023 consultation, residents raised significant concerns about the A171 route through Whitby (many dangerous junctions, difficulty in getting out of side roads, speed issues particularly around schools and New Bridge), Love Lane junctions, The Carrs, and Sandsend Road.
We have a proposal to make residential and central zones in Whitby (and potentially all villages) as 20mph. This would make a massive difference in terms of the safety of pedestrians and cyclists (shown on the above road collisions map), and the quality of life for residents, being able to get about by walking, and would make cycling a possibility for many residents and visitors alike.
Whilst those less able-bodied will often need to come into town by private vehicle (in the absence of a decent local bus service), the town should have a policy of aiming to reduce car parking, and give road space across to the pedestrian / cyclist, and to public transport. As part of this strategy of reducing car parking, the council policy of re-purposing of green space to be overflow car parking has to stop. The sheer numbers of tourists in Whitby in busy periods has to be controlled, and restricting use of overspill car parking is one method that could be effective, perhaps with “all car parks full” signage visible when coming in to Whitby.
There have been numerous instances of coaches taking a wrong turn and getting stuck on tight streets (e.g Fishburn Park area), or due to on-street parking. Signage has to be improved, and restrictions put in place to severely restrict the places that coaches can navigate.
During summer months there are very often lines of campervans parked on the Ravine and Sandsend Road overnight. This is contrary to the signage, and was not enforced by SBC. We need a clear policy, and associated enforcement. Providing more camping sites should be investigated if they are currently near capacity. Investigate use of new laws, like those introduced in New Zealand, about restricting “freedom camping”.
The current car park facilities are defined in this table.
Location | Stay? | Total Spaces | Number Disabled | Number Coaches | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cliff Street | Short | 37 | 0 | 0 | |
Marina Front | Short | 96 | 2 | 0 | |
Church Street | Long | 92 | 3 | 0 | |
Abbey Headland | Long | 415 | 6 | 10 | |
Endeavour Wharf | Long | 250 | 0 | 0 | 90-130 to be lost for Maritime Training Hub |
Marina Back | Long | 350 | 0 | 8 | |
Marina Harbour Users | Long | 79 | 0 | 0 | |
St Hilda’s Terrace | Long | 20 | 0 | 0 | |
West Cliff | Long | 424 | 4 | 11 | Includes around 200 spaces on overflow green space |
Pavilion Top | Long | 63 | 0 | 0 | |
Pavilion Drive | Long | 68 | 2 | 0 | |
Whitby Railway Station | Long | 48 | 0 | 0 | |
Sub-Total (Town Centre) | 1942 | 17 | 29 | ||
Park-and-Ride (West) | Long | 450 | 0 | 0 | |
Sub-Total (Out Of Town) | 450 | 0 | 0 | ||
Total | 2392 | 17 | 29 |
In accordance with our transparency policy, this table is downloadable in (XLSX) spreadsheet format.
As seen, even when we consider just dedicated car parks (and ignore on-street parking) the out of town park-and-ride facility is very small relative to the amount of parking required, and is doing little to remove vehicles from the town centre area. Traffic will not be reduced in Whitby until the out of town facilities are much increased, or longer distance public transport facilities are overhauled.
In the Vision for Whitby 2023 consultation, residents registered many problems with the current car parking situation and the need for a car parking review promised back in 2018. This review has to provide ample parking for residents first and foremost, and to aim to move much more visitor parking out of the town centre.
The sole Park-and-Ride facility on Guisborough Road is largely ineffective at reducing the amount of traffic in town centre, or of reducing the demand for town centre parking (it only provides 20% of the total town car parking). Expanding the current site could be an option (subject to national park approval), otherwise a further facility is required, likely on the east side of the town, and the best location for this would probably be towards the Abbey Headland, to take traffic coming from the Scarborough direction. Having data about level of utilisation of the current facility would be a start, but NYC do not keep any meaningful data (from an FOI request)!
The current (SBC) Local Plan (9.12) suggests “provision of cycle facilities at park-and-ride sites” to provide a “modal shift” in transport. NYC (under the NYCC name) obtained funding for just such a scheme in Active Travel Fund (Tranche 2) and then subsequently realised it would only provide a cycle route down Guisborough Road, and then leave its users at the mercy of the traffic due to the absence of any cycle network in Whitby. The Local Plan suggestion would only be of any value should there first be an active travel network that would reach the centre of Whitby, which there is currently not. That “suggestion” should subsequently be deprioritised until a cycle network is in place.
In the Vision for Whitby 2023 consultation, residents expressed a clear desire for expanded Park-and-Ride services, on both sides of Whitby and for the general moving of tourist traffic out of town.
We support any campaign to prohibit pavement parking, such as this one from Living Streets. We want Whitby and District to be pedestrian friendly. Vehicles should always be parked in appropriate places, and sufficient parking should be provided with such as holiday lets for pavement parking to not happen. The current law (2023) states
Is parking a motor vehicle on a pavement legal?
No, it is illegal except
What are the laws that prohibit parking on pavements?