Southwark Council has been criticised for missing its target for installing new bike hangars despite having the longest waiting list in London.
The council said it would have put in 500 bike hangars, which allow people to park bikes safely, by the end of March 2022. Instead it had installed 401 hangars, according to Liberal Democrat research shared with the News.
The Lib Dems said that letting people store their bikes, which often cost hundreds of pounds or more, without fear of them being stolen, was key to getting Southwark residents more active and helping tackle the climate emergency.
The news comes despite Southwark having more than 8,000 people on the waiting list for new bike hangar places, the most of any London borough. And, as we revealed last week, bike thefts in Southwark over the past year were higher than anywhere else in the capital other than Tower Hamlets. The Labour-controlled council has installed about 100 bike hangars over the past year alone.
Southwark currentl;y has 2,616 secure bike hangar spaces, the third highest in London and the ruling Labour administration says they are investing millions into creating 3,000 more spaces.
https://www.southwarknews.co.uk/news/southwark-among-the-worst-boroughs-for-bike-thefts/
Commenting, Cllr Graham Neale, a Lib Dem councillor in St George’s ward in the north of the borough, said: “Southwark Labour has outdone itself, missing a target that was unambitious even by their standards. Providing cycle storage is key if we are to encourage more active travel and tackle the climate emergency. Yet it seems Southwark Labour is stuck in the past, failing to provide adequate and affordable cycle storage, while continuing to offer free car parking on our estates.”
Some 60,715 people are on the waiting list to hire a bike hangar space across London’s 32 boroughs.
This means nearly three times as many people are waiting for a space, as there are places to hire in bike hangars – with only 22,592 spaces available as of March.
The number of people on the waiting list in London has risen 28 per cent from 47,578 since a study conducted last autumn.
https://www.southwarknews.co.uk/news/southwark-cyclists-forced-to-keep-bikes-in-weird-and-ridiculous-places-as-borough-named-worst-for-storage-spaces/
Yet the true figure is are likely to be even higher as it only shows those who have registered for a bicycle storage space, meaning they underestimate demand.
More than half of Londoners see a lack of cycle parking as a key deterrent to cycling, according to analysis by Transport for London (TfL).
Cllr Catherine Rose, cabinet member for parks, streets and clean air, said: “In April, we guaranteed more than 500 more bike hangars to local people, in the locations they told us they wanted them. We have already created 2,616 secure bike hangar spaces, this is the third highest of all London boroughs. Ongoing work means that hundreds more bike hangar spaces have been added since March.”
As there are six spaces to a hangar, Cllr Rose’s comment suggests that Southwark now has 436 hangars – 35 more than at the end of March, or 210 more spaces.
Cllr Rose added: “Further to this, we have committed £2.5million to fit 3000 more secure bike hangar spaces.”
https://www.southwarknews.co.uk/news/deptford-section-of-cycleway-4-set-to-open-a-year-after-building-finished/