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“Are we practising what we preach?” MPs call for more “secure and accessible” cycle parking on parliamentary estate

“Imagine if people became used to politicians sweeping through the gates of Parliament on a bicycle rather than hidden away in vehicles,” the MPs said

Two MPs have urged their fellow politicians at Westminster who support active travel to “practise what they preach” by calling for the UK to emulate the likes of Germany and Denmark by installing more “secure, accessible and sufficient” cycle parking on the parliamentary estate.

Writing in politics magazine The House, the MPs – Flick Drummond, the Conservative representative for Meon Valley and Leeds North East’s Labour MP Fabian Hamilton – criticised the current provision for cycle parking as “just not good enough” and argued that a cultural shift towards cycling at a parliamentary level could “have a much wider impact”.

Cycle parking on the parliamentary estate

Noting the success of and cross-party support for the government’s active travel policies, including the Department for Transport’s Gear Change plan, and the work of Active Travel England and the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Cycling and Walking, Drummond and Hamilton argued that this Commons-wide “show of support” for active travel was a recognition of the environmental and health benefits it can bring.

However, while the MPs acknowledged that enthusiasm for cycling and walking represented “our message to the public as parliamentarians”, they questioned whether those at Westminster were truly “practising what we preach” when it comes to active travel.

> Parliament says folding bikes allowed... if they fit through security scanner 

They asked: “Is the parliamentary estate filled with secure, accessible and sufficient cycle parking (suitable for a full range of bikes), ready for the hordes of MPs, peers and staff arriving on their bikes each morning?

“The answer, sadly, is no – and that’s in part because the parking required simply does not exist. It’s not due to lack of demand – a cursory walk through the estate shows the limited spaces that we do have filled with bikes, often parked outside allocated spaces and left in haphazard positions.”

According to the two MPs, at a recent meeting with the parliamentary estate team, one colleague even recounted that she was the victim of an attempted bike theft which left her lock badly damaged.

“We know that a lack of secure parking is a key barrier to the uptake of cycling,” Drummond and Hamilton continued. “You need to be able to park your bike close to your office, safe in the knowledge that it will still be there (and ideally dry as well) when you get back. At the moment, that provision is simply not there – and it shows.

“This is particularly noticeable when you compare our situation to other parliamentary buildings, Germany and Denmark being good examples. If the culture begins to change at a parliamentary level, it could have a much wider impact, not least in making our political system seem more accessible.

“Imagine if people became used to politicians sweeping through the gates of Parliament on a bicycle rather than hidden away in vehicles. Security will always understandably be an important consideration, but if the prime minister of the Netherlands can travel by bike, then surely others can.”

Cycle parking on the parliamentary estate

The cross-party duo recognised that any significant change to the parliamentary estate to facilitate bike parking may prove difficult thanks to the age of the buildings. However, they argued that “cycle parking has often come as an afterthought when specific buildings or courtyards are having work done on them, with swathes of cycle parking often simply being removed without being replaced.

“That is just not good enough, and along with our colleagues on the APPG Cycling & Walking, we will be pushing in the coming weeks and months to improve the situation so that more people on the estate can feel safe parking their bikes here – and can actually find somewhere to park.”

> Cyclist left-hooked by taxi driver on Westminster Bridge protected cycle lane 

While the campaign for increased cycle parking provision at Westminster seems to have attracted cross-party support, one parliamentary advisor and cyclist claimed that it isn’t limited parking which presents the biggest barrier to swathes of MPs taking to two wheels, but the lack of safe, protected cycling infrastructure.

“Additional provision is always welcome, but the parliamentary estate is mostly well provided for with secure parking available in Star Chamber Court and next to Richmond House for people coming in by Derby Gate,” Jack Gebhard, who has undertaken several bikepacking trips, including the North Coast 500 and a cross-Europe tour from Dunkirk to Istanbul, told road.cc.

“There are plenty of spots to park, but they’re often not utilised. The biggest barrier to cycling to work in parliament is accessibility from outside the estate.”

He continued: “Like everywhere else in London cycle lanes are limited, with next to no separation between cyclists and motorists. Despite the introduction of the segregated cycle lanes on Westminster Bridge, there needs to be more to convince me that I could make it to work on my bike safely.

“Until that is sorted out, unfortunately it will always be very difficult to encourage cycling.”

Ryan joined road.cc in December 2021 and since then has kept the site’s readers and listeners informed and enthralled (well at least occasionally) on news, the live blog, and the road.cc Podcast. After boarding a wrong bus at the world championships and ruining a good pair of jeans at the cyclocross, he now serves as road.cc’s senior news writer. Before his foray into cycling journalism, he wallowed in the equally pitiless world of academia, where he wrote a book about Victorian politics and droned on about cycling and bikes to classes of bored students (while taking every chance he could get to talk about cycling in print or on the radio). He can be found riding his bike very slowly around the narrow, scenic country lanes of Co. Down.

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15 comments

Avatar
mattw | 1 year ago
3 likes

Trying to put some numbers on this, the latest I can see is about 420 bike parking spaces on the Estate as of 2015, which compares to staff numbers somewhere roundabout 6000-8000. That was up from ~175 in 2012.

https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2015...

So at least 5-8% roughly. Plus people who store folders in their offices.

Is that good?

My next step I think would be to take 2% of the 600 parking spaces in the MPs secure car park and make them bike hangars, which would create space for 12*12 = 144 MPs car park secure bicycle spaces there. Then mandate that they use it, to free up spaces for staff elsewhere.

One that Caroline Lucas might enjoy stirring.

Avatar
Bungle_52 | 1 year ago
7 likes

From the article "He continued: “Like everywhere else in London cycle lanes are limited, with next to no separation between cyclists and motorists. Despite the introduction of the segregated cycle lanes on Westminster Bridge, there needs to be more to convince me that I could make it to work on my bike safely.""

What an admission from a member of a government which is SAYING it wants more journeys made by bike.

Reminds me of the chief constable who said they wouldn't do a close pass operation because it was too dangerous for the PC on the bike.

These are the people who are in a position to do something about it and they do nothing.

Avatar
TheBillder replied to Bungle_52 | 1 year ago
2 likes
Bungle_52 wrote:

From the article "He continued: “Like everywhere else in London cycle lanes are limited, with next to no separation between cyclists and motorists.

And everywhere else in Britain is totally well-served with beautifully designed infrastructure...

Perhaps it's bias caused by those occasional videos of hundreds of cyclists on the super-highway things in that London, but I suspect it's worse elsewhere.

[edit: not sure if the person quoted meant "like everywhere else, in London" or "like everywhere else in London,"... The latter is the concept I reacted to. People really ought to learn to punctuate their speech.]

Avatar
mattw replied to Bungle_52 | 1 year ago
1 like

Bungle_52 wrote:

What an admission from a member of a government which is SAYING it wants more journeys made by bike.

I can't see any members of the government quoted in the article.

Flick Drummond is a female backbench Tory MP, and Fabian Hamilton is a male backbench Labour MP. Their meeting seems to be the relevant APPG.

Avatar
ShutTheFrontDawes | 1 year ago
3 likes

"The answer, sadly, is no – and that’s in part because the parking required simply does not exist"

Sounds to me like they are expected to cycle in despite the frustrations of poor infrastructure. Like the rest of us.

Are they practicing what they preach? Yes. It's the sermon that needs to change.

Avatar
eburtthebike | 1 year ago
4 likes

What is this outbreak of common(s) sense in our elected members?  Does this presage the end of times?

Avatar
TheBillder replied to eburtthebike | 1 year ago
4 likes
eburtthebike wrote:

What is this outbreak of common(s) sense in our elected members? 

A tiny outbreak at best.

eburtthebike wrote:

Does this presage the end of times?

Sadly not. Times are set to struggle on, thrashing about a bit but giving up eventually.

Avatar
Simon E replied to TheBillder | 1 year ago
0 likes

TheBillder wrote:
eburtthebike wrote:

What is this outbreak of common(s) sense in our elected members? 

A tiny outbreak at best.

Yep. Just 2 out of 650 MPs.

And let's not forget the 786 sitting members of the House of Lords or the roughly 3,000 other people who work there.

The opening paragraph of the TLS review of Dave Goulson's book Silent Earth encapsulates the attitude of so many politicians:

When the British biologist and insect expert Dave Goulson was invited to Westminster to talk about the importance of bees to the world’s ecosystems, eighty MPs promised to show up. Goulson anticipated a chance to influence high-level politicians about insect conservation, but was disappointed when only a couple of MPs and around a dozen junior staff listened to his twenty-minute presentation. “The rest came, queued noisily to have their photo taken in front of a large poster of a bee and then left.”

Many MPs will have been getting pissed in the subsidised Commons bar, schmoozing guests/lobbyists or off on a jolly somewhere.

Avatar
ktache | 1 year ago
9 likes

There is a 600 space underground multi storey car park at New Palace Yard, where every MP gets a space, I'm sure converting a few to cycle parking would be easy enough. Maybe there is also other space there where a few stands could be placed. Fairly secure, lots of armed police about.

But cars...

Avatar
BIRMINGHAMisaDUMP replied to ktache | 1 year ago
0 likes

I think that is the place I have parked my bike when I have been to Westminster for meetings. It's just opposite by College Green. There is cycle parking there and it's secure. 

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mattw replied to ktache | 1 year ago
0 likes

There are more than 600 MPs...

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Rendel Harris replied to mattw | 1 year ago
0 likes

mattw wrote:

There are more than 600 MPs...

And indeed according to WIki only 450 spaces in New Palace Yard, but it's OK because I'm sure on any given day a fair number of the 650 MPs will be getting a load on in one of the thirty-odd taxpayer-subsidised bars available in the Palace of Westminster and so getting a taxi home and charging it to expenses.

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Awavey replied to Rendel Harris | 1 year ago
2 likes

and London has 73 MPs  alone, I hope to god theyre not all driving to "work".

theres also a good chunk who have 2nd homes in London, rather than commute like normal people have to, be nice to think they didnt drive either.

maybe the APPGCW should promote a car free day.

Avatar
Steve K replied to Awavey | 1 year ago
2 likes

Awavey wrote:

and London has 73 MPs  alone, I hope to god theyre not all driving to "work".

theres also a good chunk who have 2nd homes in London, rather than commute like normal people have to, be nice to think they didnt drive either.

maybe the APPGCW should promote a car free day.

I used to work for a Minister and member of the House of Lords who would be driven from his office in Great Smith Street to Parliament.  It was quicker to walk.  (I should stress to head off another criticism, it was his own privately funded car and driver, not paid for by the public purse)

Avatar
chrisonabike replied to Steve K | 1 year ago
0 likes

In a way I think this is begging the question - being driven / arriving in a big car is a symbol of status.  We all try to acquire the symbols even if we don't have the status.  Plus "security" and "my time is expensive so it's counter-productive to have someone like me spending time sat on public transport" etc.

So as usual it's how much are the MPs "leading" people and how much "representing"?  Some people are impressed with the Boris Johnsons / Jeremy Corbyns cycling about - but at the moment not very many it seems.  Or rather - most people don't care about that.  I like the idea but honestly don't know if e.g. all London MPs cycled / took the tube in some of the time whether the population would notice or care.

As to "privately funded" - as is often pointed out (e.g. by Ian Hislop and co) the more "promising" parliamentarians get income ("expenses" / "assistance with...") from private companies *solely on the basis of their position in government / authority*.

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