The parking of hire bikes has been a long term issue in Camden

COUNCIL chiefs are setting up new multi-million pound contracts for hire bike firms, while insisting they have “no tolerance” for cluttered pavements.

The Labour leadership is in no mood to follow the views of its now ex-scrutiny committee chairman, Awale Olad, who called for the Lime bike operation to be driven out of London in an explosive speech earlier this year.

Ruling councillors are enthusiastic about Lime and Human Forest’s presence in the borough and many are users of the services themselves.

While some councils, including Hounslow, have blocked hire bike operations from their borough boundaries, the council is trying to find a line between pleasing people who value the availability of hire bikes and reassuring those who feel the streets are being crowded and blocked by too many dumped bikes and overflowing bays.

Cabinet members agreed to a tendering process to hire – or rehire – operators when current arrangements run out next May.

Two companies will be allow to run services in Camden under the proposals, although a five-year deal will have a break clause after two.

This, councillors hope, may coincide with Transport for London setting up a city-wide licensing scheme to replace council-by-council contracts.

Environment chief Councillor James Slater told Tuesday’s meeting: “Quite frankly, we are not going to solve these problems without there being London-wide or a regional solution to some of this. My ward [Kentish Town] is on the borough boundary and I know full well that some of the problems with what happens in Islington bleeds over into Camden and some of the enforcement there will kind of impact across borough boundaries.

“We are in central London, this is not people necessarily just riding from one part of our borough to another.”

Councillor James Slater

He said he saw the benefits in people getting access to cycling, but was aware of the problems residents had faced.

He said enforcement had improved and more would be expected in the new contracts.

“There is a clear no tolerance approach where these are littering and cluttering our streets,” Cllr Slater said.

“We will always want as much enforcement as possible. We’ve impounded over 2,000 bikes already. Would I like to see more fines? Yes. Would I like to see more bikes impounded where they are cluttering the streets? Yes. It’s a about a balance but I think for the increased enforcement part of this contract, we have to give that a chance to deliver the improvements we want in the service.”

Mr Olad, who stepped down from the council last month, had said Lime had failed to resolve mess around dumped bikes, calling it a “terrible, mendacious, incompetent, irresponsible company that should no longer be operating in London.”