Highland Council completes multimillion pound purchase of D&E Coaches in a ‘significant’ deal that keeps all staff and aims to save millions in school contracts
Highland Council now owns D&E Coaches in a multi-million move heralding major changes for public transport in Inverness, the Black Isle, and both Easter and Wester Ross – where the company principally operates.
At the announcement in a rain swept Inverness confirming the purchase of the company, the message coming through from council bosses was of continuity.
Officially launching the service yesterday was council leader Raymond Bremner who said that it would be “business as usual” for the company whose acquisition it is hoped will save the public purse a fortune.
The deal was worked on by the council and D&E for around 18 months and it is understood that it is valued at between £5 million to £6 million for the purchase of the fleet and premises.
All staff will be retained and the current manager Gayle McEwan will be staying on to run the business as a going concern so it will not immediately be folded into the council’s own in-house service.
Another key element in the purchase is that D&E Coaches operates in large school catchment areas like Inverness, Dingwall, Beauly, Ullapool and the Black Isle and this presents huge opportunities for savings.
In fact, one of the main motivations for purchasing the company was the huge cost of school transport contracts, which previously shot up by what Cllr Bremner called a “crazy” 47 per cent.
Long-term it is likely that the coach company would form the foundation of an expanded public transport system in the Highlands and as such it could yet prove to be one of the most consequential decisions taken in years.
Earlier, we reported how there were council auditor concerns about the lack of a business and financial strategy for the bus service showing that it can “deliver the intended performance and outcomes”.
Cllr Ken Gowans, the economy and infrastructure chairman, was also at the launch and said he was relaxed about that as it was a normal part of the process so that the local authority remained on track.
He also reassured fans of Ross County and Inverness Caledonian Thistle who hire D&E coaches to attend games in the south that this side of the business will remain available.
Council leader Raymond Bremner, said: “Well, it's obviously a significant investment by Highland Council, it's one that I welcome because we've seen in the past round of tendering for public transport contracts our costs went up from £17 million to £25 million.
“That's an increase of £8 million and when you think about that in percentage terms it is just crazy – 47 per cent – so for a local authority that is not sustainable because that would have the potential to hurt our service delivery all across the Highlands.
“The amount of public contracts the council operates is 300 in terms of transport and D&E has a considerable amount of them so the ability to influence and control the cost of going forward will have huge benefits for the public purse.
“It is one of the reasons that we set-up a public bus company and this will help us expand on that. I think what we have to do now is strengthen the strategy of the public bus company.
“I would say in terms of the current administration, this is one of the most significant projects that's been delivered and probably one of the most important Investments that we've made in the region”.
Cllr Gowans who has been an early advocate of the potential of a public bus service said: “I'm delighted to have made the purchase of D&E coaches, it will be business as usual, we're not going to change anything, all the staff are retained – it's a huge asset to the council going forward.
“At the moment we’re just going to run the business as it is, we'll have to make choices as the opportunities become available but that's quite a way off – for now, we just want to consolidate the business and make sure that everyone's reassured that we'll be retaining all for staff and all the expertise.
“There will be no change to the hires, we will still be supporting Ross County and Caley Thistle the way that we have in the past so there'll be no change at all.”