Bike shed planning sagas – a bizarre phenomenon that has swept across the UK (and beyond) in recent years, featuring clashes between cyclists and local councils over the placement of a bicycle storage unit in their front garden – could soon become a thing of the past, after the government launched an open consultation on proposed changes that could relax restrictions on planning and development rights, including providing “further flexibilities to permit bike stores in front gardens”.
The proposed changes, which will apply only to England, come as part of a swathe of planned amendments by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing, and Communities to the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 2015.
According to the department, the changes will “allow householders to enlarge their homes, make alterations or extensions to the roof, and construct buildings incidental to the enjoyment of the main house, such as bin and bike stores”, and form part of the government’s aim to ensure that the planning system is “efficient, effective, and responsive”.
As we have seen on numerous occasions on road.cc in recent years, one area where the planning system is certainly not efficient, effective, or responsive concerns the installation of small bike sheds in the grounds of houses with limited outdoor space.
In November, we reported that a homeowner who installed a wooden bike shed outside his one-bedroom property in a Grade II listed former workhouse was told that he will not be allowed to keep the “very modest” storage facility after the council and a planning inspector objected to the structure, claiming it would “lead to a harmful cumulative change to the listed building”.
Barney Tierney said at the time that he thought the bike shed would be a “great alternative option” as his home in Ironbridge, near Telford, does not have a rear garden and “there isn’t much space inside”.
However, the council sent a letter of complaint regarding the structure and ultimately deemed that he would need to apply for retrospective planning permission, an application later denied by Telford and Wrekin Council, who said the wooden shed – despite being missed entirely by a council officer who came to inspect it – would “fail to preserve the setting of the listed building, due to its form, materials, and prominent location which would not be outweighed by any public benefit”.
> Shedgate: Victory for family as bike shed application approved
And in 2021, during a saga so protracted and bizarre it was branded ‘Shedgate’, Leicester City Council told a family that it would need to remove its homemade eco bike shed as it was not “in keeping” with the Victorian character of the street, an aesthetic criticism numerous people pointed out did not seem to be applied to the plentiful on-street car parking that lines the road.
Following an outpouring of support for the family’s case, the city’s mayor even got involved to admit that planning officers had “got it wrong”, before it was triumphantly announced that the bike shed could stay.
Now, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing, and Communities hopes to streamline and possibly eliminate these long-running sagas by introducing changes that it says will “provide further flexibility to householders and growing families so that they can alter and extend their homes”.
“We are therefore consulting on changes to allow more householders to erect larger extensions, loft extensions, and make additions and alterations to the roof; and providing further flexibilities to permit bin and bike stores in front gardens,” the department said as part of its open consultation, launched in February.
According to the government, at the moment houses that only have front gardens or those that have limited external access to their rear gardens (such as homes in the middle of a row of terraced houses) are unable to install bin or bike stores in their front gardens under the current permitted development right in England.
“This can lead to ‘bin blight’,” the government says, “with wheelie bins dominating front gardens and impacting on the local amenity of residential streets.”
“We are proposing to allow bin and bike stores in front gardens under this permitted development right. To increase the number of households who can benefit from the right, we are proposing that bin and bike stores can also be constructed in front gardens of homes in article 2(3) land (which includes conservation areas, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the Broads, National Parks and World Heritage Sites),” the consultation added.
However, as this change would allow for modest development on a front elevation, the government added that the size of bike sheds or stores constructed in front gardens will be limited to a maximum two metres in width, one metre in depth, and 1.5m in height, in order to “minimise visual and amenity impacts”.
The consultation is set to run until 9 April.
22 thoughts on “Are bike shed planning sagas set to become a thing of the past? Government proposes to relax planning laws to allow bike storage units in front gardens”
Great!
Great!
But it ain’t gonna make up for cutting funding by 75%.
Not even a nice try, just a pathetically tiny pandering to cyclists, more of an insult than real intentions.
Has “Seven Bins” Sunak been
Has “Seven Bins” Sunak been meddling again?
So a family of four, or even
So a family of four, or even three, can still not store all their bikes.
Well they could just leave
Well they could just leave them all attached to the rack on the roof of their family SUV, which for some reason would be absolutely fine.
dazigster wrote:
if you’re going to leave them outside in the elements for the perusal of thieves, might as well just chain them to the front wall. No legislation stopping installation of a locking point to the wall.
The allowed size is
The allowed size is underwhelming. I presume the intention is to avoid people installing overly large, walk-in bike storage, that before long becomes used as a shed or a summer house or whatever.
However, it’s still at the consultation phase and I’d like to think this is an area where change can be made, especially if pointing out the proposed size is not suitable for adapted bikes.
FionaJJ wrote:
Like with garages you mean?
Wonder how many of those are now used for storing cars in as opposed to, say, dumping them on the public highway? Bonus – no faffing about opening a garage and carefully getting in / out – just walk to the car and drive!
Of course in some cases it’s impossible to use them for cars as they have … swelled.
Quote:
This is really good news for Wales, Scotland and N. Ireland.
That’s devolution for you !
That’s devolution for you !
There’s an election coming up, so ask your politicians !!
I know, I’m surprised that
I know, I’m surprised that the fanfare and general bollocks of the levelling up shite is only directed at england. Someone kept that secret.
PS, Can Wales gat some of the £5bn taken for failed england and Wales HS2 project, os gwelwch yn dda?
This one is weird and needs
This one is weird and needs responses.
These sheds need to be big enough to take non-standard cycles – 1m x 2m may not even take a single tandem tricycle or recumbent sensibly.
I can put a SORN van on my front garden without planning permission, so I don’t see a problem with something the size of a cycle hangar. Logic would say it should store maybe 2x the cycle design vehicle, which is 1.2m x 2.8m.
I don’t see these have not been defined as “mobility hangars” so mobility scooters can also go in there, and why electrical charging is not referred to to help manage fire risk from e-cycles or e-mobility-scooters charged inside the house.
Plus the proposal is of questionable legality, like so much, under EA2010 since people who need non-standard cycles are required to be afforded the same rights.
AFAICS one way to sell this proposal to the “horrible cycle hangars” opinionators is to point out that we will need fewer of their precious parking spaces for said cycles hangars.
Ah, but rusting trucks on
Ah, but rusting trucks on your drive are “natural” – “in keeping” even, because you can’t see the vehicle for the parked cars almost everywhere.
And we have to have them because “right to drive”. And further – they have wheels so not permanent.
Good point on the discrimination angle though!
Surely – and I’m not being
Surely – and I’m not being facetious, just creative – the solution is just to put bike stores on little, retractable castors/wheels and chained to a wall. Then they are no more “fixed” than some mouldering, moss covered permenantly parked caravan or trailer bound yacht which for some reason would be entirely acceptable in a front yard.
It’s so obvious, I can’t believe someone doesn’t already make and sell such a thing.
Indeed. However I suspect it
Indeed. However I suspect it’s the “chained to the wall” part that is the issue. Not that you’d think people wouldn’t notice someone wheeling away a bike shed *. However if you could securely chain things I think people might already. (Not as good as “out of sight” nor do you benefit from the weather protection of course.)
I hadn’t picked this up but there ARE some regulation changes allowing this in some circumstances in Scotland (under Householder Permitted Development
Rights).
Probably needs pump-priming (e.g. cash) AND maybe regulations. However if we can only get the ball rolling in terms of numbers cycling it’s possible that private interests may see opportunity.
* People are clearly even reluctant to tackle blatant thieves in broad daylight, in busy city centres.
I use an old van to store my
I use an old van to store my bikes outside; cost me the same as a shed and is more secure and vermin-proof than a shed.
It’s important also that
It’s important also that people have options to charge their e-bikes (and e-scooters) externally. Maybe these sheds, once approved, will have features that enable that.
Outbox will have charging.
Outbox will have charging.
I hope someone’s told the
I hope someone’s told the bloke who’s developing the underground bike store https://road.cc/content/tech-news/can-mini-underground-garage-keep-your-bike-safe-306751
To be fair, the underground
To be fair, the underground Outbox could be positioned as a very niche installation service thing for people who (a) have lots of money and (b) don’t want an unaesthetic shed in the front of their plush townhouse. It was never going to be a volume play. One key thing for increasing the adoption of cycling is that it’s got to be quick and convenient to grap your bike on the way out. (Same applies to e-bike charging – gotta be conveniently located near the secure storage) The more front-of-house options there are, the better. Here’s another version of an underground solution from Japan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4jydxYokds
The underground garage would
The underground garage would have been perfect for my old house, floor level about 2m above street level and a listed wall holding up the front garden. In fact a whole fucking workshop could have gone in!
Yes, jolly good idea, always
Yes, jolly good idea, always said that I wanted to campaign for permitted development – seems that I may not have to now!
http://www.outbox.co.uk
Even if it becomes permitted
Even if it becomes permitted development, PD is not infrequently removed (or doesn’t apply) for various reasons, such as conservation areas or if an application for development results in a need to prevent over-development.