By Rachel Watts, Fremantle-Cockburn Gazette
CITY of Fremantle will make secure bicycle parking and end-of-trip facilities a requirement for new developments in an effort to reduce carbon emissions and encourage cycling.
The scheme amendment, which will go to full council tomorrow night for approval for advertising, will establish the recommended number of high, medium and low security bicycle racks and appropriate end-of-trip facilities depending on development size.
The amendment would have the current requirement for provision of bicycle racks amended to include three different categories of bicycle racks, classes one and two for long-term and medium stays and class three for short stays.
Developers would also have to provide long or medium term bicycle parking for zero parking residential developments and purpose built scooter parking for every five apartments.
Showers and change rooms would need to be provided dependant on the development size and amount of bicycle parking.
The proposal came as Mayor Brad Pettitt stepped up his demands for a trial of the removal of mandatory helmet laws on bicycle paths and low speed areas in Fremantle, which he claims will encourage cycling.
He denied the requirement to add bicycle parking and end-of-trip facilities would stall development, saying parking for bicycles was much more affordable for developers than car bays.
“Developers also have the option of doing a zero parking development ultimately saving the cost of creating car parking which can be up to $60,000 a bay,” he said.
“We want developers who understand that the development that occurs in the east end of the city should have a strong focus on sustainability and affordability.”
Bicycle infrastructure was vital to encourage cycling but the cheapest method of getting people on to bikes was to remove the requirement for helmets.
“Manfred Neun, the president of the European Cyclists Federation, believes the number of cyclists in WA would treble if helmets were not compulsory,” he said.
“While this leads to the obvious safety question, the evidence across many countries is that an increase in the number of cyclists actually makes cycling safer. As the number of cyclists doubles, the risk per kilometre falls by 34 per cent.”