[ June 19, 2001 ]
Hull Daily Mail: End of the Road
Hull Daily Mail
End of the Road
June 19, 2001
by ayoung@hulldailymail.co.uk
Courtesy of Shaun Blagdon.
| A city centre cycle park backed by Hull chart-toppers The Beautiful South is set to close at the end of the week. The demise of Blazing Saddles comes just three years after it opened. |
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Today Government officials were staging a major conference on the future of cycling in Hull aimed at promoting cycle-friendly policies. But Blazing Saddles manager Steve Left said the dream of providing a non-profit making public service had been undermined by a lack of support from Kingston upon Hull City Council and local businesses. And cycling groups say its closure sums up a lack of practical political support for alternatives to the car.
Mr Left said: "We have had a good relationship with the council's cycling officer Andy Mayo but, apart from a mention in the council's cycling map of Hull and a directional sign at the end of Savile Street, they have not given us much help at all. We have continually asked about the possibility of a paying reduced business rates, but we have got nowhere."
Beautiful South stars Paul Heaton and Dave Rotheray originally came up with the idea after seeing similar secure cycle parking schemes in Europe. They bought the lease of the shop and have heavily subsidised its operation, including staff wages, ever since. All-day parking is just 50p and cyclists can also park there for an hour without any charge at all.
Providing indoor parking space for up to 70 cycles, the shop recently expanded into repair work, servicing and selling bikes and accessories in a bid to generate more income. Two full time staff and four part-time workers will lose their jobs when it closes. Mr Left said: "Dave and Paul wanted to put something back into the city and provide an affordable service.
"They went into it for the right reasons, thinking the council would do more because it is a public service, but the overheads remained high and they have finally decided enough is enough. We are all disappointed because for all the political talk about green transport and integrated transport systems, we have received hardly any backing from the council. Our regular customers are all very sad and worried about what to do when we close."
Stephen Noreiko, vice-chairman of the Hull Cycle Campaign, said: "It does not say a lot for joined-up government thinking on integrated transport and I am very sad to see it go. The city council is slowly getting better in terms of providing cycling facilities but even on things like the current Spring Bank refurbishment scheme, there are far too few dedicated cycle parking areas."
Councillor Jim Mulgrove, cabinet member with responsibility for transport on Kingston upon Hull City Council, defended the council's track record on cycling. He said: "It has proven difficult to offer any support to Blazing Saddles due to it being an entirely privately operated company. Any assistance we could have given them was dependent on them registering as a charity but as they chose not to, we could not help them."
Adam Fowler, of the City of Hull Environment Forum, said he was looking to continue the cycle parking service at the One-Stop Shop in Mill Street.
"The lads behind Blazing Saddles deserve a lot of credit for coming up with the idea and developing it in the way they have done. If we are serious as a society about changing our methods of transport, we need to look at how we fund environmentally-friendly, socially-orientated schemes like this for the long-term."
Mr Fowler said further talks were planned later this week over opening a cycle park inside the One-Stop Shop but he added that funds were not available to take on the Blazing Saddles staff.
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