A NEW 24-hour secure bike storage facility has opened in Newport city centre.

Up to 40 bikes can be stored in the storage hub - which is monitered by CCTV - on Skinner Street from Friday, November 18.

The unit is run by a refugee charity and sponsored by Newport City Council as part of efforts to encourage residents to cycle more.

“For those of us who choose to cycle or who might cycle, we need to be given that choice of somewhere safe to leave our bikes,” said Mark Seymour, project manager at the Gap Wales who runs the unit.

“We’ve had a lot of people walking past, even people who don’t cycle, have actually said ‘what a great idea this is much needed.’”

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For the first year, the business will charge £1 per day for pay-as-you-go access.

Other membership options include £5 for weekly access, £17.50 monthly, and £14.50 for a corporate membership.

The unit is one of the cycle hubs by the London provider Spokesafe and is supported by Newport City Homes and Welsh Government funding.

The Welsh Government's deputy minister for climate change Lee Waters applauded the scheme.

He said: “It’s part of the changes we need to see to encourage people to leave their car at home, and to come by bike.

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“And to make that successful, we need to think what are the barriers in getting closer, what’s stopping people. And one of the things we know stops some people is the confidence that when they park their bike, it’ll still be there when they come back.”

Cllr Jane Mudd, leader of Newport City Council, said safe secure storage for bikes was what “people have been telling us that they need for a very long time.”

She thinks having facilities like this could encourage more people to make journeys by bike instead of by car or bus, or active travel, which the council promotes as a way to help mental and physical health, and reduce carbon footprint.

“I think it’s an absolutely brilliant starting point,” she said. “I’m really confident that in the future, this scheme will need to grow.”

Mr Waters also said that cycling is one of the things that individuals can do to tackle climate change.

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Mark Seymour and Lee Waters

Mr Seymour added the cycle hub is set to run for at least three years as a pilot project. After that, the unit is expected to be financially self-sustaining.

As for now, the income from the unit will go to a project aiming to provide repaired bikes to refugees and asylum seekers in Newport. “That’s an important way of getting around the city,” he said.

Newport Cycle Hub is located at 24 Skinner Street, Newport NP20 1DZ.