Cycle Malvern is delighted that a proposal “to consider facilitating the provision of bike racks within the Town to support and encourage cycling as well as supporting the Council’s declaration of a climate emergency in 2019” has just been approved by Malvern Town Council’s Operations and Planning Committee.
The proposal report is available from the MTC meetings web page (25th November meeting). There are various stages for getting the scheme off the ground, or perhaps more accurately on the ground:
- Agreement of the proposed locations for the installations of bike racks.
- Permissions to be granted by land owners.
- Installation and responsibility for bike racks to be undertaken by MTC.
- Funding sources to be fully investigated and MTC funding granted.
Here’s the rough locations being investigated for the cycle parking. Most are on county council land, a few in private hands – some have already said they welcome the idea.
Malvern Link
- Outside the Wool Shack: upgrade of existing cycle racks.
- Outside St Richards Hospice (in side road).
Barnards Green
- At the eastern end of the shops where there are two sets of 3 planters; bike racks could be fitted adjacent to the seating.
- Use of area in middle of B4208 between Wok & Woll and One Stop.
- Area on junction between Pickersleigh Road and Upper Chase Road, across from the Blue Cross shop – photo above.
Great Malvern
A key idea here is to have cycle parking available at both ends of Church Street, indeed for all directions.
- Post Office to right hand side as you look at the building, in the area where there is a flower tower, defibrillator machine and phone box – photo above.
- Post Office to left hand side of the door.
- Edith Road car park: possibility to rearrange the bins (railings towards Wilko).
- Connells on Grange Road – move existing racks at the back of Connells to the front (to improve visibility and hence security).
- Bray’s – courtyard area to southern end of Bray’s and adjacent to Queen’s Drive.
- Pavement area adjacent to Mackenzies.
It is hoped that there will be enough money to improve signage and a printed map too. See the committee report for a little more detail.
We have had a hand in looking at these positions for bike racks and our views have been taken on board. A background news piece on ‘Why more bike racks for Malvern‘ was published by us at the end of October.
Many thanks to Councillor Lou Lowton for putting the various initial suggestions together and including us in the process, plus Councillor Sharon Taylor and all the other Labour town councillors who have been pushing on taking action to address the climate emergency. Here’s hoping that the further work to get the bike racks installed goes smoothly.
PS Not sure I picked the right photo as ‘featured image’ – a row of empty, bent racks. It sort of shows what we want to improve on! Update: now changed for something a bit more positive.
Would it be possible to have some wheel holder type bike parking fitted to the wall at 90 degrees to Barnard’s green post office to cover that area also.