After months of debate, Cambridge councillors have finally agreed to replace car parking spaces on a residential street with bike racks.

Like many streets in the historic centre of Cambridge, Thoday Street in Romsey has a high proportion of residents who don’t own a car. One such resident approached the Cambridge Cycling Campaign, saying:

“Our family do not own a car, cycle everywhere (including my 14 mile round trip to work) and yet we cannot park our bike and the trailer we use for our young daughter outside our house! We must manoeuvre bikes round a muddy path or past the cars a metre from our door and through the house to our garden.”

The Campaign persuaded the County Council to trial replacing two car parking spaces on Thoday Street with two sets of bike racks. Councillors initially had mixed views as to whether to make it permanent, but after a follow-up survey showed that 61% of residents were in favour, the County Council has agreed to take the scheme forward.

It will now be subject to a formal consultation. Meanwhile, local councillor Kilian Bourke has said the change could be repeated on other nearby streets, telling the Cambridge News: “If other people in Romsey want to explore this option in their terraces, I would be happy to talk to them.”

Cambridge Cycling Campaign says that, by providing better bike parking, a ‘virtuous circle’ ensues where fewer people need car parking. As it explains on its blog:

“More secure, more convenient cycle parking raises the status of bikes and will mean that they get used more often. These small factors add up and when combined with better cycle routes and lower speed limits help open the option of cycling to more people. The result is less car dependency, less congestion and ultimately less demand for car parking space.”