A number of Southwark residents proposed locations for bike hangars in November. Support an application, and one or more could get installed in your area!

A bike hangar is a securely lockable pod that fits six bikes and sits on the carriageway. Each hangar is only half the size of a car-parking space, so reassigning a single parking space enables up to 12 people to cycle.

And it has fantastic potential to encourage more people to cycle. Many of the residents who asked for a hangar are not active cyclists but say they would cycle if only they had a safe place to keep a bike.

The map below shows where the applications were made. Decisions will be taken on 29 January, with hangars paid for by Southwark’s Cleaner, Greener, Safer fund. You can help to make sure they get funded by contacting your local councillor to tell them how much you support proposals near you – use this handy template letter if you need help.

Why do we need secure cycle storage?

• Convenient and secure cycle parking encourages people to start cycling, cycle more often, and cycle with friends and family.

• Many people in Southwark live in converted houses with shared hallways and no outside space, or in small flats in old blocks of flats. They have nowhere safe to keep a bike.

• Most households in Southwark don’t own a car. So it seems sensible to allocate a small part of the available road space to parking bikes rather than cars. This way, instead of owning a car, they can use one or more of several options: public transport, supermarket delivery services, car clubs, walking and cycling.

Why are we asking for hangars?

Until now, Southwark Council has only permitted individual steel lockers on its estates and at train stations. While they’re a tried and tested solution, they are expensive (around £800 each) and don’t work for everyone. You need to be reasonably tall and strong to use them, and they’re not big enough for tricycles or trailers.

Do bike hangars work?

Yes. Hangars have been used in the Netherlands for years. They are particularly helpful for providing secure storage in areas of older, dense housing, like terraced houses or blocks of flats.

In Lambeth, they have been used as part of wider street-calming and -greening projects, as at Van Gogh Walk. The first Lambeth bike hangar was trialled in autumn 2012. Following a successful trial, a further 27 were installed in the neighbourhood in 2013, with around 40 more planned for 2014.