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NIMBY… Unless I can paint it a nice colour: Petition launched to let locals decorate controversial “giant ugly” bike hangars outside their homes, after storage units branded “a monstrosity”

Residents say they should be allowed to “decorate the hangars tastefully” with mural-like artwork and to reduce the size of the “enormous” chevrons used to alert motorists to the storage units

After two years of being ridiculed as “giant ugly objects” and “monstrosities” by residents and politicians who claimed they were evidence of the “continuing war against motorists”, Brighton and Hove’s controversial cycle hangars are now the subject of a petition calling on the council to let locals decorate them “tastefully” with mural-style artwork.

The cycle hangars, which offer secure on-street storage for six bicycles, proved a somewhat surprising and enduring source of contention in the south coast city when they were first rolled out in 2022 and early 2023.

Since then, Brighton and Hove City Council have installed 150 hangars across the city, as waiting lists for spaces stretched into the hundreds. However, they also attracted the ire of some locals who claimed that the dark green units are an eyesore and take up too much space, despite the hangars being able to fit in a space usually reserved for one car.

> NIMBY locals "concerned and distressed" by "giant ugly" bike hangar

In November 2022, a Hove woman successfully persuaded the council not to put one of the new hangars outside her home because it was “unattractive”, after arguing that looking at the “giant ugly objects” from her lounge and bedroom was making her “distressed”.

Local Conservative councillor Robert Nemeth, meanwhile, supported Janice Goodlet’s stance in “opposing this monstrosity outside her home”, though Green Party politician Jamie Lloyd noted that Goodlet was one of many locals who believe the new cycle hangars “are going to be a huge imposition on their lives while seemingly ignoring the Range Rovers that are half parked on the pavement”.

And this week, Brighton resident Dinah Clarke has launched a petition urging the now Labour-led council to let residents paint the aesthetically divisive storage units, arguing that those “living amongst these hangars should have a choice to decorate” them.

In the change.org petition, which has so far attracted 37 signatures and will be presented to the local authority at a public meeting next month, Clarke said residents should “have permission to decorate the hangars tastefully without the threat of the art being treated like graffiti and so painted over”, pointing to Brighton’s penchant for colourful murals as a possible antidote to what she described as the hangars’ “bland surfaces”.

Brighton cycle hangar (Dinah Clarke)

Clarke also argued in the petition that locals should “have the right to reduce the size of the enormous chevrons placed on the sides of the hangars”.

> Brighton & Hove City Council rejects Tory demand for five-fold increase in cycle hangar fees

However, the council’s cabinet member for transport, parking, and public realm, Trevor Muten, has responded to Clarke’s artwork suggestion by noting that visibility – and not style – remains the key factor behind the hangars’ design.

“We always welcome creative suggestions from residents and have looked into this. We are not currently considering artwork for our cycle hangars,” Muten said in a statement.

“The chevrons on the side of the hangars are for extra visibility and safety and are not something we would change.

“As the cycle hangars are a structure on the highway, first and foremost they need to be compliant with regulations and visible to motorists and other road users.”

> “Is there anything that can’t be blamed on cyclists?” Baby hospitalised after motorist crashes into bike hangar – and locals blame the hangar

Even going beyond the row over their looks, the green cycle hangars – whose counterparts in Bath have also been labelled “measles” by opponents – first attracted controversy in Brighton and Hove in late 2022, when a newly installed unit in Norfolk Square was met with outrage after residents pointed out that it was hanging over two permit car parking spaces, prompting the council to investigate the hangar’s positioning.

Cycle hangar in Norfolk Square, Brighton (credit - Laura King, Facebook)

> Council "investigating" after driver outrage at cycle hangar "deliberately" blocking car parking spaces

One resident suggested that the unit’s “deliberate” placement was either the result of “sheer incompetence or the continuing war by Brighton and Hove City Council against motorists”, and was antagonising residents and car owners.

However, the local authority told road.cc at the time that while it was “aware of concerns”, the council was nevertheless “delighted” at the overall response to the storage units, saying that “residents have wanted them for a long time”.

But just a month later, in December 2022, plans to introduce a second cycle hangar on Cissbury Road – thanks to the demand for bike storage in the area – were opposed by Labour councillors and some residents, who claimed the additional unit would exacerbate the pre-existing parking issues on the road, which is located near Brighton, Hove, and Sussex VI Form College.

> Residents “threatened with police” after “surrounding” contractors installing bike hangar

One local claimed that, thanks to the original hangar taking up a single parking space on the road, parents and carers picking up students from the college had since started parking on double yellow lines and leaving their engines running.

Following this opposition, the council was reported to be advising contractors installing the hangars to call the 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.

A month later, according to the council, staff from parking enforcement contractors NSL were in the process of implementing a parking suspension, in preparation for the installation of the second bike hangar on Cissbury Road, Hove, when they were “surrounded by a lot of unhappy residents”.

However, a Cissbury Road resident criticised the council’s account, branding it “misleading”, and claimed that he “had barely gotten a word out before I was threatened with the police”.

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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33 comments

Avatar
bensynnock | 2 weeks ago
3 likes

I hate the term 'war on motorists'.

There's a war alright, but it's one that is being waged by the motoring lobby at the expense of everybody, and one that they've been winning for 100 years.

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chrisonabike replied to bensynnock | 2 weeks ago
1 like

In a "war on the motorist" of the kind you describe almost everyone loses, including most motorists. For every benefit there's a negative. They're paying for driving, stuck in traffic, "have to drive" to get anything done, can't walk places (because cars), public space is all tarmac and parked vehicles, everyone gets the pollution and constant road noise, if you do want public transport it's pretty rubbish...

The only clear winners are the industries around motoring and motor transport. Plus the politicians who promoted this and their successors assisted by same.

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Robert Hardy | 2 weeks ago
7 likes

A counter petition to be allowed to paint murals on big ugly suvs littering the street?

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FionaJJ | 2 weeks ago
6 likes

I wonder if they really do want to paint it, or if they are just using it as another angle for a moan.

I say let them - subject to certain restrictions on quality of paint etc. They and others in the area can submit a proposal for how they'd like to see a hanger painted. Then stick the proposals on the council website with a vote for the favourite design (including the original) and maybe the cost of the change, and see what the public goes for. They may discover that their neighbours think they have horrible taste.

In an ideal world it would be a good thing to use the hangers as an opportunity for a bit of public art, but in this particular world allowing them to paint it could be seen as an acknowledgement that the originals are harmful to the streetscape and just too ugly for people to put up with. If it becomes accepted that new hangers need extra treatment to be acceptable then it is just an extra hurdle to getting more of them placed. 

And we don't all get to vote on what colour of car gets to park in our streets. 

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IanMK | 2 weeks ago
13 likes

Can you imagine the culture wars that would follow. Cubists vs Romanticists vs impressionists.

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DrG82 | 2 weeks ago
7 likes

I don't see much wrong with painting the bike sheds, maybe get the local school kids to design the murals. This could be done together with an active transport plan to get the kids interested in cycling and wanting to cycle for transport.
The size and shape of the chevrons is probably decided by some very wordy and in depth transport document so not really up for debate unless the manufacturers want to open themselves up to potential problems. Not that painting things bright colours will stop some idiots crashing into them.

Regarding the shed on two parking spaces, Never attribute to malice anything that can adequately be attributed to stupity.

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mctrials23 replied to DrG82 | 2 weeks ago
6 likes

I don't think there is anything wrong with it at all. Its just another stupid thing for people to complain about when it comes to cyclists though isn't it. They don't complain that horrible looking cars sit outside all the time or that twats park their cars so badly that they completely block pavements. They whinge that bike storage is the real issue of the day. 

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Tom_77 replied to DrG82 | 2 weeks ago
3 likes

DrG82 wrote:

The size and shape of the chevrons is probably decided by some very wordy and in depth transport document so not really up for debate

If it's the same as for skips then it's BS AU 152:1970 - Specification for rear marking plates for vehicles.

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Bmblbzzz replied to Tom_77 | 2 weeks ago
0 likes

The bike hangars in Bristol and other places have no chevrons. Also, the ones on skips and lorries are red and yellow, these look red and white.

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Smoggysteve replied to DrG82 | 2 weeks ago
4 likes

I think it should be encouraged. If the locals take ownership of it and make it bespoke then it helps community cohesion in a small way. 

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mattw replied to DrG82 | 2 weeks ago
2 likes

I thought those idiots who drive motor vehicles could not see anything unless it was in Hi Viz?

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David9694 | 2 weeks ago
5 likes

Car crashes into bike hanger 

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chrisonabike replied to David9694 | 2 weeks ago
1 like

We're going to need a bigger thread... (actually, as a few more places do this, sadly we're going to need a whole new thread).

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LordSandwich replied to David9694 | 2 weeks ago
1 like

You could paint it in luminous orange and that will still happen.

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polainm | 2 weeks ago
7 likes

A shipping container with car manufacturers' branding would have few complaints, it's anything to do with cycling that is the problem here. The UK has one of the most toxic highway cultures on the planet. Every political issue, road works, immigration argument or asteroid hitting the planet is the cyclists fault. That government or House of Lords can't see this widespread hatred shows how prevelant it is. Surely the next piece of legislation is to remove voting rights from people who cycle....

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SecretSam | 2 weeks ago
10 likes

OK, as long as cyclists can repaint peoples' cars

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anke2 | 2 weeks ago
6 likes

That woman is not wrong, these storage hangars are just as ugly as cars.

My suggestion: take two parking spots, turn one into a bike hangar and the second one, for compensation, into a planter / a green area with a tree. This way, using two spots, the net effect will be the removal of one ugly object.

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Rendel Harris replied to anke2 | 2 weeks ago
9 likes

But then you'd still be able to see the monstrosity when approaching from one direction, let's take three spaces and have trees and plants both sides. Perhaps another green area across the street to hide the view from the houses opposite.

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mattw replied to Rendel Harris | 2 weeks ago
2 likes

Cover for thieves !

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adamrice | 2 weeks ago
1 like

I don't see why anyone wouldn't want these covered in art. My city (which has no bike garages) has been artifying other street furniture. I think it's great.

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skeuomorph replied to adamrice | 2 weeks ago
2 likes

Cost. Art is expensive. Even if it's volunteered, created by school children etc. It's still expensive. 

The hangers could be better designed from the off though

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The_Ewan replied to adamrice | 2 weeks ago
9 likes

adamrice wrote:

I don't see why anyone wouldn't want these covered in art.

I think it's more that people don't want to entertain bad-faith bullshit from bigots.

If there was a dark green small car parked in the spot instead then we wouldn't have heard a peep from any of these people, but as soon as it's cycling infrastructure then they're desperate to come up with as many ways to try to make things harder, more complicated, more costly, not because they have any genuine reasons, but just because they're small-minded trolls driven by hatred.

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brooksby | 2 weeks ago
22 likes

How about a petition to allow people to decorate - mural style street art - all the motor vehicles parked outside their houses?  3

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mdavidford replied to brooksby | 2 weeks ago
6 likes

By the same token though, I haven't noticed anyone suggesting that cars need to have giant chevrons painted on them because otherwise no-one will be able to see them when they're left in a parking bay.

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ktache replied to mdavidford | 2 weeks ago
2 likes

But cars do have old tech rear reflectors. Not much development on the passive vehicular reflector, same as on the bike. Surprised there's not been anything revolutionary on their development.

Skips have the chevrons of course...

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Global Nomad replied to mdavidford | 2 weeks ago
1 like

There are some of these in London I ride past which can be a hazard at night due to their location making them almost invisible, so reflectors on the corners or at least lighter colours (not sure if those chevrons are reflective) are required. a small solar panel and a couple of corner led's would be better

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mctrials23 | 2 weeks ago
14 likes

Just paint it to look like any number of things that are lovely to look at. A wankpanzer, a bunch of battered wheelie bins with rubbish piled up next to them, a van. Three excellent choices that will clearly offend people far less than the disgusting view they currently have to suffer. 

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pockstone replied to mctrials23 | 2 weeks ago
1 like

Perhaps something like this?: "New mural on historic Bradford building aims to inspire young people to dreambig"(Edit: Originally referred to as "celebrating Bradford's car culture" although references to that seem to be being toned down a bit) 

https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/24593371.new-mural-aims-insp...

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hawkinspeter replied to pockstone | 2 weeks ago
5 likes

pockstone wrote:

Perhaps something like this?: "New mural on historic Bradford building aims to inspire young people to dreambig"(Trigger alert!) https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/24593371.new-mural-aims-insp...

Nice artwork!

We've got a fair few murals/graffiti artworks here in Bristol and I think they improve the environment.

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chrisonabike replied to hawkinspeter | 2 weeks ago
7 likes

Why on earth would putting squirrels on green road-furniture make it more acceptable?!

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