A new bike rack worth £2,500 has been removed by the council after less than 24 hours after a string of resident complaints.
Lincolnshire County Council were forced to make the U-turn as some locals thought the rack took up valuable parking spaces outside a line of shops in Holbeach High Street.
The authority has splashed out on 20 of the bright green stands as part of a £100,000 green travel plan, after receiving funds to aid the county's recovery from Covid-19.
But, following complaints from local businesses, the rack was taken down by the council.
One business owner said: “I’m all for greener travel but we’re on our knees thanks to coronavirus.
“We need all the help we can get and that includes encouraging people to come and spend their money.
“Car parking has always been an issue in the town so what do the council do? They make it even harder to park your car.
“You would have hoped someone in the council might have looked at these cartoon-cars and thought, hang on, how can people park their actual real cars next to them?”
Writing on Facebook, other residents branded the rack “an eyesore” while others said it was a “stupid waste of money”.
Judith Partridge wrote: “Surely if it’s supposed to be a bike rack shouldn’t it be in the shape of a bike not a car?”
Melissa Cox posted: “It's hard enough finding parking spaces in towns as it is without a bike rack taking up an entire space. Just stupid.”
Sharon Rudd commented: “Was the person who designed it drunk??? It’s a bike rack so why is it in the shape of a car?”
Joe Dixon added: “Just when you thought our leaders couldn’t get any more stupid they take up car parking spaces with this monstrosity.”
The racks were installed across Lincolnshire as a way of encouraging cycling - having space for 10 bicycles per rack.
New bike lanes will also be installed as part of the £100,000.
Cllr Richard Davies, executive member for highways at Lincolnshire County Council, said: "The Department for Transport granted us over £100,000 from the first round of the emergency active travel fund to support the installation of temporary projects to help aid the county's recovery from Covid-19.
"As part of that funding, we're installing more bike parking in towns across the county, to make it easier for people to cycle into their town centre.
"When we were awarded the funding, the DfT gave us very short timescales to install the changes, and there just wasn't time to get feedback from every community about each location.
"But the changes are all on a trial basis – if they work they'll stay and if they don't we can rethink.
"I'm grateful that residents and Holbeach Parish Council have let us know that they don't think this type of bike parking is suitable for the location, so we'll move it. It can instead be trialled in a different part of the county.
"We have another type of bike parking we've purchased as part of this fund, which is a bit more inconspicuous, and we're working with the local county councillor and the parish council to find a suitable location in Holbeach for this."
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