A council has defended one of its bike hangars from criticism after residents claimed it would “cause more accidents” and is a “health and safety nightmare” — the local authority pointing out there were no objections to the on-street bicycle storage during a period of planning and consultation with the local community, and stating that there have been “hundreds of requests from across the city” for more bike hangars.

The BBC has published the views of a Tokar Street resident and her grandson, the pair objecting to Portsmouth City Council installing a bike hangar on the street near a junction, the bicycle storage unit taking the place of a former car parking space.

Housing between four to six bikes depending on the design, spaces in the hangars that have been installed across the city can be rented for £30 per year (a charge the council says is to cover the cost of cleaning and maintenance) and offer residents a secure place to keep their bike if they do not have space at their property.

As has been seen in numerous other cities across the country, demand has been high and the council said it had received “hundreds of requests from across the city” for more units to be offered. However, as has also been seen across the country, it is the complaints of a few residents that have made headlines, similar objections having been heard in Brighton and Bath in recent times.

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One Tokar Street resident objected to the bike hangar being placed “directly outside my property” and told the BBC that it “needs to be removed” as it is “ridiculous” and would “cause more accidents”. Veloris Ballingall, 75, said she had lived in the street for 40 years and had seen “more than five car crashes on the corner of the street”.

She claimed the council had “given no warning about this” and her grandson Owen also took to social media to complain that the council was “refusing to remove it”.

“My grandmother doesn’t ride a bike, so she won’t use it,” he said. “It should be put somewhere where it is accessible properly and not on a junction. It’s too bulky and a health and safety nightmare.”

Portsmouth City Council refutes the claim residents were not warned and said the “usual process to advertise the plans received no objections”.

A spokesperson added: “Bike hangars offer safe, secure, bike storage for Portsmouth residents who don’t have that space in their home. We have had hundreds of requests from across the city and these dictate where we develop plans and consult with the local area. With Tokar Street we carried out our usual process to advertise the plans which received no objections.

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“It has proven a popular location and like most hangars in the city we’ve received far more applications to use it than there are spaces.”

Elsewhere in the city, the council began a bike hangar pilot in 2021, eight roads getting a storage unit between March and September. The Liberal Democrat-run council said the trial prompted “requests for more cycle storage” and a second phase of installations came in February 2023.

“If the scheme continues to be popular we will seek further funding to further expand bike hangars to other roads in the city. If you would like to rent a space in a bike hangar but don’t live near the roads selected for the pilot you can nominate your road for a hangar in the future,” the council’s website states.

The outspoken complaints mirror what has been aired elsewhere in the country. Along the coast, Brighton & Hove City Council has heard criticism from residents and a councillor over the city’s bike hangars, the local politician branding a bike storage facility a “monstrosity”.

The council also said it would investigate the placement of a cycle hangar causing outrage with parking permit holders who said it was “deliberately” blocking car spaces, that coming as another resident took to the local press to say she does not want one of the “giant ugly objects” outside her house.

Cycle hangar in Norfolk Square, Brighton (credit – Laura King, Facebook)
Cycle hangar in Norfolk Square, Brighton (credit – Laura King, Facebook) (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)

In Bath, a resident called the newly installed bike hangars “green measles” and claimed they would “make Unesco’s decision [about the city’s World Heritage status] so much simpler”.

That despite Unesco noting on its website that Bath “remains vulnerable to transport pressures”, with “improved transport” based around public transport and pedestrianisation part of the management plan to protect the city’s integrity and authenticity as a World Heritage site.

And while cycling is not mentioned explicitly, the advised shift to walking and a “bus-based network” implies the “need for improved transport” will not be answered by overdependence on car use.