A Bath resident has hit out at the council's bike hangar trial, calling the bike storage pods "green measles" and suggesting they could have implications for the city's Unesco World Heritage status.

Speaking to the Chronicle about Liberal Democrat-run Bath and North East Somerset Council's recently begun two-year trial of the on-street storage solution, June Ward raised concerns the FalcoPods (link is external) were not in keeping with the Georgian aesthetic.

The complaints are similar to the noises heard from Brighton and Hove at the back end of last year when residents reported being "concerned and distressed" by a newly installed "giant ugly" bike hangar

Writing to the local press, June Ward, a long-time resident of Sydney Buildings, the street pictured below in 2019 and one of the locations picked for the Bath trial, said she fears the "green measles" could spread across the city.

"So could it be that we might see Bath attacked with a serious case of 'Green Measles' in Great Pulteney Street, at each end of the Royal Crescent or even in the middle of the Circus?" she asked (link is external).

"Were 'Green Measles' to happen it would be a field day for the graffiti artists and make Unesco's decision whether to allow Bath to remain on their list of World Heritage Sites so much simpler."

On its website, UNESCO notes (link is external) Bath "remains vulnerable to transport pressures", with "improved transport" based around public transport and pedestrianisation part of the management plan to protect the city's integrity and authenticity as a World Heritage site.

And while cycling is not mentioned explicitly, the advised shift to walking and a "bus-based network" implies the "need for improved transport" will not be answered by overdependence on car use.

Bath and North East Somerset Council's trial of the Falco-manufactured pods will see space for 24 bikes across four hangars provided on New King Street, Sydney Buildings and Great Stanhope Street, accessible via a mobile app or physical key at a cost of £42 per bike per year during the trial.

"We want to encourage more residents to leave the car at home and consider cycling instead, especially for short journeys around Bath, so we need to remove barriers which prevent people from owning and using a bike, by providing dedicated and secure cycle parking near their home," Cllr Sarah Warren, the cabinet member for Climate and Sustainable Travel said.

But Sydney Buildings resident Ward questioned the long-term impact, suggesting Bath could eventually be "awash" with bike hangars for "folk who do not like having to haul their bicycles through the likes of a Georgian front door".

"Sydney Buildings overwhelmingly voted recently to install large green bicycle lockups/sheds on the road with very few dissenters. They now stand at the entrance to our road along with, I believe, two others as part of an experiment," she explained.

"The advantages are obvious and the idea was voted in by folk who do not like having to haul their bicycles through the likes of a Georgian front door.. In addition, the idea is very much in line with our council's present drive to get cars out of Bath and more and more people onto their bicycles.

"I can quite understand the reasoning behind this decision in the short-term but wonder if consideration has been given to the long-term. Some 24 years ago my husband and I found ourselves involved in a long, 18-month, hard-fought battle with the planners to convince them to allow us to put back the railings in front of our house that had been removed as part of the war effort.

"It was carefully explained to us that Sydney Buildings, apart from being one of the prettiest roads in the city, was like a 'history of Bath' with houses running from Georgian to the modern day and needed to be conserved and protected. A view very definitely at odds with the present council presumably.

"To the future with Bath awash with similar houses where bicycles must be taken through the front door, it would be invidious favouritism for the council to turn down others who would also wish to have a large green box in which safely to store their bicycles wherever in Bath they lived.

"I am too old to see the end of this issue and will probably be watching with interest beside the planners who so stoutly defended our responsibility to beauty and conservation for future generations over the mere convenience of the present day."

The comments and concerns are not dissimilar, Unesco World Heritage status aside, to many of the complaints we heard from the Sussex coast where some Brighton and Hove residents objected to similar storage being offered to cyclists

Some were even "threatened with police" after "surrounding" contractors installing one such hangar last month.

It was also reported that it appeared a large vehicle may have crashed into another hangar just two months after its positioning, taking up two car parking spaces, caused outrage.

https://road.cc/content/news/bike-hangar-row-spreads-bath-299433

On 20/02/2023 01:49 pm, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:

> A Bath resident has hit out at the council's fairy-bike bin trial, calling the fairy-bike storage bins "green measles" and suggesting they could have implications for the city's Unesco World Heritage status.
>> Speaking to the Chronicle about Liberal Democrat-run Bath and North East Somerset Council's recently begun two-year trial of the on-street storage solution, June Ward raised concerns the FalcoPods (link is external) were not in keeping with the Georgian aesthetic.

And they aren't.

> The complaints are similar to the noises heard from Brighton and Hove at the back end of last year when residents reported being "concerned and distressed" by a newly installed "giant ugly" fairy-bike bin.
> Writing to the local press, June Ward, a long-time resident of Sydney Buildings, the street pictured below in 2019 and one of the locations picked for the Bath trial, said she fears the "green measles" could spread across the city.
> "So could it be that we might see Bath attacked with a serious case of 'Green Measles' in Great Pulteney Street, at each end of the Royal Crescent or even in the middle of the Circus?" she asked (link is external).
> "Were 'Green Measles' to happen it would be a field day for the graffiti artists and make Unesco's decision whether to allow Bath to remain on their list of World Heritage Sites so much simpler."
> On its website, UNESCO notes (link is external) Bath "remains vulnerable to transport pressures", with "improved transport" based around public transport and pedestrianisation part of the management plan to protect the city's integrity and authenticity as a World Heritage site.
> And while fairy-cycling is not mentioned explicitly, the advised shift to walking and a "bus-based network" implies the "need for improved transport" will not be answered by overdependence on car use.
> Bath and North East Somerset Council's trial of the Falco-manufactured bins will see space for 24 fairy-bikes across four bins provided on New King Street, Sydney Buildings and Great Stanhope Street, accessible via a mobile app or physical key at a cost of £42 per fairy-bike per year during the trial.

Ah... there's the problem, eh?

£42 a year? That's WAY more than a fairy-cyclist will be willing to pay.
>
> "We want to encourage more residents to leave the car at home and consider fairy-cycling instead, especially for short journeys around Bath, so we need to remove barriers which prevent people from owning and using a bike, by providing dedicated and secure fairy-cycle parking near their home," Cllr Sarah Warren, the cabinet member for Climate and Sustainable Travel said.
> But Sydney Buildings resident Ward questioned the long-term impact, suggesting Bath could eventually be "awash" with fairy-bike bins for "folk who do not like having to haul their fairy-bicycles through the likes of a Georgian front door".
> "Sydney Buildings overwhelmingly voted recently to install large green fairy-bicycle lockups/sheds on the road with very few dissenters. They now stand at the entrance to our road along with, I believe, two others as part of an experiment," she explained.
> "The advantages are obvious and the idea was voted in by folk who do not like having to haul their fairy-bicycles through the likes of a Georgian front door. In addition, the idea is very much in line with our council's present drive to get cars out of Bath and more and more people onto their fairy-bicycles.
> "I can quite understand the reasoning behind this decision in the short-term but wonder if consideration has been given to the long-term. Some 24 years ago my husband and I found ourselves involved in a long, 18-month, hard-fought battle with the planners to convince them to allow us to put back the railings in front of our house that had been removed as part of the war effort.
> "It was carefully explained to us that Sydney Buildings, apart from being one of the prettiest roads in the city, was like a 'history of Bath' with houses running from Georgian to the modern day and needed to be conserved and protected. A view very definitely at odds with the present council presumably.
> "To the future with Bath awash with similar houses where fairy-bicycles must be taken through the front door, it would be invidious favouritism for the council to turn down others who would also wish to have a large green bin in which safely to store their fairy-bicycles wherever in Bath they lived.
> "I am too old to see the end of this issue and will probably be watching with interest beside the planners who so stoutly defended our responsibility to beauty and conservation for future generations over the mere convenience of the present day."
> The comments and concerns are not dissimilar, Unesco World Heritage status aside, to many of the complaints we heard from the Sussex coast where some Brighton and Hove residents objected to similar storage bins being offered to fairy-cyclists
>> Some were even "threatened with police" after "surrounding" contractors installing one such bin last month.
> It was also reported that it appeared a large vehicle may have crashed into another bin just two months after its positioning, taking up two car parking spaces, caused outrage.
>
> https://road.cc/content/news/bike-hangar-row-spreads-bath-299433
>

JNugent <jenningsandco@mail.com> wrote:
> On 20/02/2023 01:49 pm, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:
>
>> A Bath resident has hit out at the council's fairy-bike bin trial,
>> calling the fairy-bike storage bins "green measles" and suggesting they
>> could have implications for the city's Unesco World Heritage status.

>> Bath and North East Somerset Council's trial of the Falco-manufactured
>> bins will see space for 24 fairy-bikes across four bins provided on New
>> King Street, Sydney Buildings and Great Stanhope Street, accessible via
>> a mobile app or physical key at a cost of £42 per fairy-bike per year during the trial.

> Ah... there's the problem, eh?

> £42 a year? That's WAY more than a fairy-cyclist will be willing to pay.

24 spaces at £42 each pa is £1008 income.

What will be the cost of purchase, installation, upkeep, and
administration?

How much is the Bath taxpayer ponying up to run this scheme, over a year?

Will this be another Manchester bike-hire scheme, with a huge subsidy for
each use?

The cycling world is really shy about the real costs of its demands.

>> https://road.cc/content/news/bike-hangar-row-spreads-bath-299433

--
Spike

If it was me I would be campaigning for the council to commission local street artists to decorate the bike hangars. I am sure that Bath must have a few, if not there's a chap who isn't bad from Bristol I understand. Either way, it could make Bath a UNESCO destination for modern reasons rather than ancient history.

We recently had a "to do" in south Lincs where the council commissioned a local street artist to do a mural for the sports centre on the theme of wellbeing. They got quite animated when he chose to focus on the impact on wellbeing of the cost of living crisis. Not what they had in mind apparently.

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:
> If it was me I would be campaigning for the council to commission local
> street artists to decorate the bike hangars. I am sure that Bath must
> have a few, if not there's a chap who isn't bad from Bristol I
> understand. Either way, it could make Bath a UNESCO destination for
> modern reasons rather than ancient history.
>
> We recently had a "to do" in south Lincs where the council commissioned a
> local street artist to do a mural for the sports centre on the theme of
> wellbeing. They got quite animated when he chose to focus on the impact
> on wellbeing of the cost of living crisis. Not what they had in mind apparently.

In that case the requirement was badly drafted.

--
Spike

Oldfatgit | 485 posts | 3 hours ago
3 likes

If I can't have my railings... you can't have your bike stands.

That seems to be the real driver for the complaint.

DOG IN A MANGER SYNDROME AGAIN.