Fund To Create More Secure Cycle Storage Across Belfast

Following the success of Belfast's first ever secure cycle park at CastleCourt Shopping Centre, Belfast City Council has welcomed a new grant fund to create more facilities.

The Department for Infrastructure has allocated funding for operators to deliver and maintain safe, secure and accessible cycle parking at sites outside Belfast city centre.

Chair of Belfast City Council's City Growth and Regeneration Committee, Councillor Ryan Murphy said: "This investment is part of our Bolder Vision, which is all about creating a more attractive, accessible, safer and more vibrant city.

"As we've shown with the recent launch of our Active Travel Hub at Cathedral Gardens, The Bike Yard at CastleCourt and covered cycle parking at various locations throughout the city, we're keen to prioritise walking and wheeling in Belfast - creating lively, safe and green streets and removing barriers to movement between the city centre and surrounding communities. Providing these additional secure cycle parking facilities is another small, but important step to encouraging people to move away from relying on their cars to get around.

"Potential sites for these new secure cycle storage facilities could include surface car parks, multi-storey car parks or existing retail units. But we're not limiting proposals to those types of locations – operators could also repurpose vacant units in the city and bring them back into use."

Successful operators will be responsible for delivering a self-sustaining operating model for ongoing use of the site, providing access, adequate security and managing users and finances, customer service and regular site maintenance and cleansing.

Capital support up to a maximum of £30,000 may be available to develop physical infrastructure at each location and storage facilities must be delivered by March 2023.