Bike sheds blocked over 'disingenuous' fire safety claim

The new block of flats are proposed to be built outside the former Railway Inn pub in Yate

A developer's bid to put bike storage outside a new block of flats rather than inside due to "fire safety" has been blocked.

The Railway Building Company wants to keep 80 bike racks in two sheds outside the former Railway Inn pub in Yate, South Gloucestershire.

In its application, they said there was a danger of e-bike and e-scooter lithium batteries bursting into flames.

However South Gloucestershire Council's transport officer told a planning committee on 9 May that the applicant was being "disingenuous".

The officer said the developer did not include the concern when they submitted the original plans, which received planning permission in 2021 and included the internal storage, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Councillors rejected the proposal at the meeting, against the officers' recommendation it be approved.

The Railway Building Company’s planning agent Kit Stokes said the site, in Station Road, was expected to be bought by housing provider Places for People and their preference was to have the bike store outside.

They added that National Fire Chiefs Council advised them keeping e-bikes and e-scooters externally and not indoors near a staircase leading to homes.

Places for People, the applicant said, intends to make all 40 flats available as "affordable housing".

'Spurious reasons'

Transport officer Myles Kidd said: “The original proposal was an excellent example of good design, and what has been changed here, for very spurious reasons which I fully disagree with, is on the basis of fire safety.

“While there have been news reports on lithium batteries overheating and exploding into flames, my understanding is that the cause is generally poor quality batteries, as in fakes, or damaged batteries."