Concerns that cycle hangars installed across Brighton and Hove are not covering their maintenance costs has led to a call to increase charges.
Brighton and Hove City Council’s draft budget includes £125,000 allocated for maintaining on-street cycle hangars which the Conservative group said were sold to councillors as “cost neutral”.
Now the Tories are calling for the weekly charge for a space in a cycle hangar to go up from £1 to £5 a week to cover their costs.
Any increase in price would involve negotiations with the service provider, Falco, so the Conservatives want any increase to be implemented as soon as possible after this year’s budget is passed.
Conservative leader Alistair McNair, said: “We in the Conservative group feel that those using these cycle hangars should cover this cost.
“An increase in the fee to £5 per week would more than cover the cost of maintenance and allow investment in more cycle hangars, if wanted by residents.
“Taxpayers should not have to fund luxuries like cycle hangars for other residents who are then getting a bargain deal for using them.
“It shows a lack of fairness when seen against a backdrop of cuts to services used by the disabled, children, the elderly and the vulnerable.”
More than 110 cycle hangars have been installed on the streets of Brighton and Hove since the scheme started in 2022.
When a public survey was carried out in November 2021, 500 streets requested a hangar. Areas with a high number of requests, limited cycle storage facilities and high levels of cycle theft were given priority.
Labour councillor Trevor Muten said that the scheme had been a great success, providing secure parking for more than 650 bikes – and with a long waiting list.
Councillor Muten, who chairs the council’s Transport and Sustainability Committee, said: “As a city with a high number of flats and many people without access to private garden or cycle space, the hangars have been crucial in providing a convenient, safe and affordable space for bikes.
“Affordability was factored in when the cycle hangar project was introduced and we have no current plans to review the cost paid by residents for hangar spaces.
“We realise that, in some areas of the city, the introduction of any more cycle hangars needs to be balanced with the availability of parking space and this will factor into our parking review process.”
A decision is due to be made at the annual budget council meeting which is due to start at 4.30pm on Thursday (22 February) at Hove Town Hall. The meeting is scheduled to be webcast on the council’s website.
I’d like to see hangers personally be given to community assets to manage and maintain, support our Third Sector whilst also ensuring more of these can be placed for those who need them.
A bit of dog-whistle politicking there. To balance it, as funds for repairing potholes are short, how about making a five-fold increase in parking charges?
Apart from the FACT the council make £30,000,000.00 PROFIT from cars already
Most of which pays for senior bus passes and subsidised bus routes
Incorrect, Data provided by BHCC and reported in this very paper on 30th January 2024 tells us bus passes cost £10m and there was a surplus of £19m after all bills had been paid from the £33m taken, so bus passes are just a third.
Car parking etc does NOT include subsidised bus routes, these come from a different pot.
Since when have Tories been concerned about those in need ?
Are cyclists the ones in need and require the subsidies from other road users and council tax payers?
Many people cannot have driving licences, and residents’ parking should include provision for them – whatever their vehicle including non-standard cycles, cycles and mobility scooters. Plus people who need RP facilities should have them for their cycles rather than a motor vehicle if that is their choice.
The Tory is trying to manufacture a wedge issue, cynically.
I think when they think it can win them votes, or at the very least when they can mud sling, lol
Has anyone asked Sussex Police if increased patrols would remove the need for such tin boxes in our already cluttered streets ?
Try contacting Sussex Police or PCC Katy Bourne about anything and you never get a reply.
Katy Bourne hasn’t held a public meeting for years because of safety concerns
I like the picture of the bicycles left lying around outside the hanger rather than in it – was it full or £1 per week too much to pay?…As for Councillor Muten- isn’t he just a mouthpiece for Bricycles?
Requiring the users of such items to pay an appropriate charge for their upkeep would seem entirely reasonable. The fees should reflect this, as opposed to a reliance on public subsidies.
It’s a metal box how on earth is it costs more than £38000 to maintain them… That’s the question that should be asked. £38k revenue + £125k is 6 members of full time staff. What exactly are they doing or is it a case of this random provider actually just having maybe 2 staff ( at £50k cost)and pocketing the other £100k.
Well it was rolled out under the greens so no doubt massive back handers and tax money being blown
The premise that the greens are corrupt is plain idiotic. We have had daily corruption for a decade right at the top.
I guess you don’t understand the tendering process…
> I guess you don’t understand the tendering process…
Haha… Tender? Was there any evidence this was offered to other companies to run?
And if it was, how come the outfit who run it now want to increase costs by 500%. That sounds like some serious lies in the tender process.
Not really a luxury if you cycle to work . Sussex Police have the worst record in the country for bike theft prosecutions. So if Alistair wants to cut costs we could stop spending £2 million/year on Tory PCC Katy Bourne
As a disabled person… *&#@ listening to the Tories bleat about disabled people. They have done so much damage to disabled peoples lives since 2010.
This attitude is why a lot of services don’t work. Call it a luxury and demand that JUST the users pay for it… So instead of spending £52 a year for the luxury of not having your bike stolen… now it’ll cost £260 a year? Are you having a laugh?
People should be encouraged to cycle, and just look at the amount of money spent on the current car centric model, what if only drivers had to pay for all their requirements?
Can’t they be used as sleeping pods
Why was something that was promoted as cost neutral actually now revealed not to be? Who was lying/ wrong?
Officers? Councillors? The contractor? Questions need to be asked as to why we are subsidising this.
And don’t mention Beryl Bikes!
Another winner brought to you by the car hating zealots in the Transport Department (able assisted by Davis and Lloyd)
Ah good the Tories really care about us. If only people had voted for them things would be much better.
Bike users of these sheds should be charged much more. They have these sheds in places like Dorset gardens where these bays can earn £20k a year as pay and display bays. The council is sacrificing a lot of money to save people having to store their bikes in their flats.
Could we possibly be told what the actual usage rate is for these ‘sheds’ (i.e. are the existing ones in full use or not?) or is that yet another thing that requires an FOI request to the council, which they probably won’t answer?
And before Benjamin weighs in on this and tells me to read the article (I have read it), a ‘global figure’ of 650 users and a big waiting list doesn’t answer the question. For example, are ALL of the sheds fully occupied, are there some not fully occupied so in the wrong place – basic stuff like that.
£125,000 a year to maintain 110 cycle hangers. That’s over £1000 a year each! Wow
There should be an inquiry into this. If councillors were told that these would be cost neutral then how were the calculations so wrong? Is the contract wrong – if so which staff members made the errors and what actions have been taken? Has the supplier misled us? If so, will they be removed?
This is not a small amount of money when compared to other savings that are being required. It’s also a lot to maintain each cycle shed. How can they cost over a thousand pounds a year each? Many cars don’t cost that much a year to maintain – so how can a cycle shed? What is the money being used for as it looks like huge profits somewhere…..
This goes to the heart of what is wrong with B&HC. Business plans that are signed off are not delivered. No apparent consequences for the staff who wrote these plans. But we are expected to pay
You can say £125,000 a year is a small amount of money for the council. But these basic errors happen again and again and it adds up.
Well I think that if the Tories want to have the rent on the cycle pods increased 5 fold it is only right that carpark changes go up 5 fold as well
That would be fair because cars do a lot more damage to the roads
HOPEFULLY THE TORIES WILL BE GONE BY 2025 with ther under funding of the councils and public services and handing millions to their friends in shady deals
How could a government in the space of 14 years double the GDP to 100% and have nothing to show for it except tax even more people more than ever the only people who have benefited are their friends
If the foregoing comments about costs of these tin boxes are correct, then someone in the council ought to have their arse kicked or be sacked for incompetence
It costs £60 a year or more if you rent for a shorter time period. So, £360 revenue a year for each bike hangar if rented to 6 people annually.
There are a lot of public health benefits of people are more active. This saves money as people use the NHS less and don’t contribute to more pollution which causes others to suffer health problems too.
I have a space in a bike hangar as I live in a small bedsit and wouldn’t have space otherwise. I work as a mental health worker for an NHS service and could not afford a car or a bigger property. It seems like good transport infrastructure from my perspective but I’m obviously biased.