FROM strife on Waterside to the best in the UK – motorbike parking in Stratford has come a long way.
The district has ranked top in the country when it comes to motorbike parking in council car parks. It has a total of 159 bike-specific parking spaces in total, meaning the area has dedicated five per cent of all its spaces in car parks to bikes.
Herefordshire Council, which provides room for 93 bikes in allocated bays, is the only authority that comes anywhere close to Stratford’s offering of space for 177 bikes.
The lion’s share of the district’s motorcycle parking spaces are at SDC’s purpose built 150-space facility at Bridgefoot multi-storey car park.
The dedicated motorbike area was built following the official ban of motorbikes parking on Waterside.
Rows of motorcycles parking on the stretch of pavement running alongside Bancroft Gardens and the Royal Shakespeare Theatre were once a familiar sight.
But this all came to an end in 2022 when SDC banned motorbikes parking there after a 100 year-old bylaw was updated.
The move was contentious. While it was welcomed by many residents concerned about safety, others enjyed teh spectacle, saying it was an extra draw for visitors and also provided an economic boost.
The SDC motorbike parking area was created around 200 metres from where bikes formerly parked up.
The motorbike parking statistics were revealed by motorcycle insurance broker Bikesure which is concerned at the general lack of parking provision for motorbikes nationally.
Rob Balls, Bikesure general manager, said: “Our findings lay bare the reality that UK motorcyclists are being undoubtedly overlooked when it comes to the safe and secure parking of their machines.
“It’s concerning to us that, despite there being over 1.4 million licensed bikes on our roads, our councils have made provisions for fewer than 12,000 of them. This just doesn’t feel good enough. It’s time for all local authorities to recognise the scale of the problem and start addressing the imbalance.”
