A much criticised green bike rack that’s shaped like a car has been removed a day after being installed in Holbeach.
It was put in place in the town’s conservation area by Lincolnshire County Council in what was previously a car parking bay on High Street yesterday (Thursday).
But following complaints on social media and representations from Holbeach Parish Council and councillor Nick Worth, it’s set to be taken down straight away.
Parish councillor Sophie Hutchinson, told The Voice: “Many complaints were made on the Spotted Holbeach post last night, around its appearance, placement and lack of consultation.
“Couns Nick Worth and Richard Davies have been dealing with the issue this morning, and the bike rack will be removed but parish council will be consulted on its new and more appropriate location in town.”
The county council have not said how much installing the bike rack cost, but said the money had come from the government’s Active Travel fund.
Coun Richard Davies executive member for highways at Lincolnshire County Council, said: “The Department for Transport (DfT) granted us over £100,000 from the first round of the emergency active travel fund to support the installation of temporary projects to help aid the county’s recovery from Covid-19.
“As part of that funding, we’re installing more bike parking in towns across the county, to make it easier for people to cycle into their town centre.
“When we were awarded the funding, the DfT gave us very short timescales to install the changes, and there just wasn’t time to get feedback from every community about each location.
“But the changes are all on a trial basis – if they work they’ll stay and if they don’t we can rethink. I’m grateful that residents and Holbeach Parish Council have let us know that they don’t think this type of bike parking is suitable for the location, so we’ll move it. It can instead be trialled in a different part of the county.
“We have another type of bike parking we’ve purchased as part of this fund, which is a bit more inconspicuous, and we’re working with the local county councillor and the parish council to find a suitable location in Holbeach for this.”
