(12 May 2013, 3:46 pm)Adam Malarkey wrote(12 May 2013, 3:11 pm)Andreos1 wrote To be honest, with the new houses and school being built at Stanley, I would have thought this would have been an ideal time to sell the depot there.
Saying that, any spotters at the school will have prime views over the depot wall!
I was thinking once the new depot opens have half the Diamond/Red Kite buses move to the Riverside Depot, so basically like what Chester le Street/Stanley do with the Lime Renowns, then have the Pronto/OK WAY/OK Expressway move into Stanley Depot.
If it was me and site mentioned is free and no-one is using it, i'd take advantage of it. There is a big bit of land in Birtley not far from where the Ford Van Dealership is and all that has is a little park on it as an alternative. But I doubt GNE would want to folk out on building another new depot.
The Depot at Birtley has already been built on Drum Industrial Estate (Visible from the main Chester to Stanley Road at the side of Batleys cash & Carry) - I understand, as previous post above, this was built to replace Stanley, Chester-le-Street & Washington - Don't know why it remains unoccupied and possibly now To Let/For Sale - Something must have gone wrong late in the proceedings. I would have though Stanley & Chester-le Street Depot sites especially could be valuable plots for residential buidings (Houses or managed Flats?)