![[Last bike in Kirkgate Centre?]](secure.jpg)
October 19, 2000
The city centre car park at the Kirkgate Shopping Centre is to ban motorcycles from the end of this month.
The car park is currently undergoing a major renovation following a handover of the lease by the council to Centre owners Prudential.
The decision by Prudential will leave only 12 official motorbike parking places in the whole of the city centre. The move has been condemned by the Motorcycle Action Group and flies in the face of the local council's own Integrated Transport Strategy.
The operations manager at the centre told KDIS that the new barrier system raised "health and safety problems with bikes" and added:
"It seems there's no money in bikes. Prudential want to see a return on their investment."
Bikes traditionally park free, often in areas where cars can't reach.
The Integrated Transport Policy states:
"We wish to encourage the greater use of small, environmentally friendly motorcycles and will seek to do this by:*increasing the provision of secure parking facilities in city and town centres, interchange points such as park and ride and at railway stations;
*promoting motorcycling as part of Green Travel Plans by encouraging the provision of appropriate parking facilities and lockers for storage of equipment and clothing and possibly low interest loans for the purchase of low powered machines for business use;"
Ironically Prudential are major players in the current City Centre Management partnership, and will be board members on the new City Centre Management company which will take over control of city developments.
Council Executive member Simon Cooke was unaware of the decision. He said:
"I'm not sure I understand why the Kirkgate Centre have a problem and will explore this further."
Council officers were also initially unaware. After making inquiries, Council transport chief Alan Mainwaring said:
"We have spoken to the Kirkgate Centre and they confirm that they do not intend to allow motorcycles on the car park because of problems with the new style of payment on foot. The Traffic Unit at City Road are currently engaged in a consultation exercise to determine where motor cycle provision should be made on the highways, including parking. This involves talking to Motorcycle Action Group and British Motorcycle Federation as to their needs."
Dan, a spokesman for Bradford Motorcycle Action Group said:
"Obviously the withdrawal of this service to motorcyclists is less than 'prudent', and goes against the general conception of city centre planning & traffic management. Motorcycles have a key role to play in any integrated transport system by providing low cost, low impact personal transport."It is not an uncommon sight to see Bradford City centre gridlocked by cars queueing for parking spaces. The occupants of those cars cannot begin to spend money in the shops within the Kirkgate centre until they have secured a parking space. Up to five motorcycles can be accommodated in the space of one car, so surely it makes sense to encourage the use of motorcycles if only to increase the number of customers in the shops.
"The only other secure parking bays for motorcycles are located at the edge of town on Wigan Street (near Hein Gericke) and Westgate Car Park and can accommodate less than a dozen bikes between them - hardly adequate for a city the size of Bradford.
"Perhaps Bradford Council should develop a more 'pro-active' approach to motorcycling and compel planners to include facilities for motorcycles in all future developments, or perhaps motorcyclists could be allowed to share access to the considerable amount of secure bicycle parking areas that are scattered all around the city centre and remain virtually unused."