Works have begun this morning just outside East Croydon Station which should provide secure cycle parking space for years to come, and represents a bit of a victory for local campaigners who objected to the railway’s plans to remove their bike sheds altogether.
Secure racks secured: the Billinton Hill bike shed is closed this week, while GTR has it fenced off from its staff car park
Inside Croydon broke the news last June that Southern Rail wanted to remove the bike racks on Billinton Hill. Officials suggested at the time that the bike racks had to go because of a “bomb threat”.
Cyclists objected because the storage space, used each day by many commuters before making their rail journeys into central London, was the only bike rack available at East Croydon that was properly monitored by CCTV. Bicycles left in another, unmonitored bike rack at East Croydon, on the other side of the tracks, close to the entrance to Boozepark, have been notoriously vulnerable to thieves.
Following the news coverage, protests and a mass petition, meetings were called between officials from Govia Thameslink Railway, the rail operators at East Croydon, the Croydon Cycling Campaign and Labour MPs Natasha Irons and Sarah Jones, and local councillors.
Southern’s proposals were paused.
Until, that is, last weekend, when an official from GTR announced in an email to stakeholders: “The cycle storage area by Billinton Hill will be closed for most of next week while our contractors carry out work to ‘fence out’ the bike storage facility from the staff car park.”
Having public cycle parking within a staff car park had been identified as less than optimal, for all parties.
The official’s email continued: “Once complete, this will enable the staff car park to be made secure while retaining access to the racks” for passengers.
The cycle racks are close to Platform 6, on the Cherry Orchard Road side of the station. The works are expected to be completed by the end of this week.
Although, just as when Southern sprung their unconsulted, short-notice decision on cycling commuters with little notice, signs to advise of the closure of the cycle racks for this week’s works only went up at the weekend.
Not only might that have caught commuters unaware as they pedalled up to their usual parking place this morning, it also meant that some who had stored their bikes on the rack over the weekend might not be able to get access to them once the works began.
Campaign cycle: Chris Galpin, who started the petition to save the bike racks
“Customers will be able to collect any bikes they have left parked there while workers are on site as the racks themselves will not be moved – the work is to construct fences around the area,” the Southern official wrote.
“We appreciate though the inconvenience this will cause in the meantime.”
Chris Galpin, the Addiscombe resident who first raised objections to the closure of the station bike rack and raised a petition to object to the plan, today described the latest works as “a great result for the people of Croydon”.
Thanking all those who had signed the petition, Galpin told Inside Croydon: “I am glad Southern Rail have seen sense and committed to maintain an area where bikes can be securely parked on the east side of the station.”
Galpin repeated early calls for more secure bike stroage to the western and southern approaches to the busy station “so cycling can become a more viable option for a larger number Croydon residents”.
And he added: “For now we can celebrate this victory, which shows what can be achieved when the people of Croydon make their voices heard.”
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The opposite view of empty bike rack at Sanderstead station.