Residents raise concerns about bike hangar plans

Ted Peskett Local Democracy Reporter

Residents in Cardiff have urged the council to reconsider plans to put metal bike lockers outside their homes.

Cardiff Council announced recently that it would look to expand the roll out of cycle parking hangars to more locations across the city.

Bike thefts have been major problem in Cardiff for years, with 1,074 being reported to South Wales Police in 2024 alone.

Cycle parking hangars started being trialled at certain locations in Cardiff this summer by the council to see if it would be an effective way of clamping down on the issue.

However, the proposed locations of 50 new hangars on streets across the city has been questioned by resident who will be affected.

One resident, who did not want to be named, said: “In some areas like Grangetown, like Pontcanna, most of the proposals are actually quite sensible.

“They’re in rain gardens, they’re in shared spaces.

“Specifically in Splott and in Canton these are disproportionately placed outside individual homes and all we’re asking is that they review that.

“We think that shared amenity should be in shared spaces and it’s an undue burden on a very small amount of individuals.”

Lack of detail

Cardiff Council’s website shows that locations are being considered in Canton, Cathays, Gabalfa, Grangetown, Penylan, Plasnewydd, Riverside and Splott for the bike hangars.

The hangars themselves will be metal units placed on the road against the kerb. Some will be installed on the pavement.

There isn’t much in terms of specific details on the council’s website about how big these hangars will be and how many metres they’ll be from peoples’ front doors.

The resident we spoke with added: “Putting the shared amenity outside one person’s home does infringe on our right to privacy.

“We haven’t had measurements for any of these things. We don’t know how it is going to affect the light, we don’t know how noisy they are. They are big metal sheds.”

Cardiff Council is carrying out a public consultation on its bike hangars proposal, which will close on Friday, September 12.

A council spokesperson said: “Consultation has consistently shown that there is a high demand for secure on-street cycle parking in residential areas of Cardiff, particularly those with high levels of terraced housing.

“Cycle theft is an issue in Cardiff and similar cycle hangars have proved to be successful in reducing this type of crime in other UK cities where they have been installed.”

The anonymous resident said they and others who are also concerned about the proposal in its current form recognise the need for safe cycle storage.

However, they also think other locations would be better suited. Alternatives mentioned include areas outside schools, chapels and community centres.

Impact

The resident added: “We’ve even got quite a wide distribution of car parks with unused hard core standing.

“All of these places could have safe cycle storage installed, with CCTV in some cases already there, with minimal impact.”

Cardiff Council said the proposed locations for the hangars were identified based on expressions of interest from members of the public and that care has been taken to select well-lit sites not directly outside the entrances of properties.

A council spokesperson added: “The majority of the freestanding metal hangars, which are smaller than the average car and designed to be as unobtrusive as possible, will be situated on the road not the pavement.

“To minimise any impact on parking, they will be placed in parts of streets which are not covered by residential parking permits.

“Meanwhile, the separate introduction of new zonal parking schemes will further improve access to parking for residents.

“All residents directly affected by the proposals have been written to in order to seek their feedback. Consultation on the proposals is due to close on 12th September.”