Brighton & Hove City Council is said to be advising contractors installing bike hangars in the south coast city to call police should they be challenged by members of the public while going about their work – with the Labour councillor who raised the issue describing it as “inappropriate and unhelpful to threaten” residents raising concerns over how money is being spent.
The hangars, each able to accommodate up to six bicycles, are being rolled out across the city, with around 60 of them currently in place and a waiting list.
They have proven hugely popular with many local residents looking for somewhere to store their bikes, with all spaces allocated and a waiting list stretching into the hundreds.
However, they have met some opposition from people complaining that the hangars are an eyesore and take up car parking spaces – even though two can fit in the space occupied by one motor vehicle.
> Hove woman persuades council not to locate “unattractive” cycle hangar outside her home
The Argus reports that some local councillors have also raised concerns over a lack of full consultation before hangars were installed.
The city has been administered since 2020 by the Green Party, who have 20 of the 55 seats, which insists that there has been every opportunity for the introduction of the hangars to be debated.
At a council meeting last week, Green Party Councillor Hannah Allbrooke pointed out that the hangars had been included in the city’s local transport plan.
“We saw from the responses to the survey last year that residents really want them,” she said. “With so many people living in shared accommodation, flats or houses where storage space is at a premium, it can be so difficult for people to find spaces to store their cycles.
“The locations of those hangars are determined by where people asked for them,” she added.
At the meeting, however, opposition Labour and Conservative councillors voted for a detailed report on the bike parking units to be compiled and submitted to the council’s environment, transport and sustainability committee.
Tory councillor Robert Nemeth described the hangars as “unbeautiful objects springing up in inappropriate places” and claimed that “the council introduced the hangars without going through the usual channels – by the back door as it were.
“Those of us who serve on transport committee are well used to debating controversial issues and we do our best to scrutinise and improve any such policies before us. Financial, legal and equalities issues are all within our remit.
“But cycle hangars haven’t had a proper public airing,” he added. “There was a brief mention in the ‘budget council’ paperwork and some ‘traffic regulation order’ consultations for the most controversial placements but never a proper debate on the principle.”
The issue of council contractors being advised to contact police if people questioned what they were doing was raised following the meeting by a Labour councillor, John Allcock.
He said that residents of Cissbury Road approached workers who were installing two hangars there, when they had only been expecting one to be put in place.
According to Councillor Allcock, the contractors showed the residents an email from the council that said they should call police “if there was any trouble.”
The councillor, who maintained that his party backed the hangars in principle as part of efforts to promote active travel, said: “It’s certainly highly inappropriate and unhelpful to threaten well-meaning and responsible citizens with a call to the police when they question how council services are being implemented in their neighbourhood.
He added: “I’m very afraid that this zealot-like behaviour will only alienate citizens from engaging in the process of active travel rather than govern by consensus and win support.”
Council announces Beryl as new bike-share partner, with e-Bikes available to hire for first time
Meanwhile, the council has announced that it has awarded the contract to run its BTN BikeShare scheme, operated since its launch in 2017 by Hourbike but recently plagued by technical problems, to Beryl, which already operates a number of such schemes throughout the UK.
The current scheme is now being wound down ahead of closing on 31 December, with Beryl’s offer being launched in spring next year, reports the Argus.
Unlike the current scheme, e-bikes will be available to hire and will make up more than half of Beryl’s fleet – 468 of them, while there will be 312 push bikes.
Councillor Steve Davis, co-chair of Brighton & Hove City Council’s environment, transport and sustainability committee, said: “It’s very exciting to have a new operator on board.
“Beryl has a proven track record for delivering and operating cycle hire schemes nationwide and I can’t wait to see the new look fleet, with electric bikes, hit the streets of Brighton and Hove next year.
“Cycle hire is a fantastic way of getting around the city in an easy, active and sustainable way. BTN BikeShare is a community asset we can be very proud of as we enter a new era for the scheme.
“I’d also like to thank the current operator Hourbike for operating the scheme since its launch in 2017,” he added. “It’s thanks to their hard work, skill and dedication that BTN BikeShare has been such a success story for the city.”