Site for community bike hub 'stormed' by vandals

A site where a new community bike hub is being built to help reduce antisocial behaviour has been vandalised.

Police are investigating after the Believe Achieve CIC project in Stoneclough, Bolton, was targeted on Monday night.

The bike hub is being built by project founder Tunde Olasupo to give youngsters access to bicycles while teaching road safety and maintenance skills.

Olasupo says the site was "stormed" by people who vandalised a surrounding fence and forcibly opened a container that will house the hub.

Bolton Council had rejected plans for the development, but temporary permission was granted by a planning inspector last month following an appeal.

Officers from the local authority inspected the site after the fencing was put up while the approved works were carried out.

The BBC understands they found some minor contraventions of Tree Protection Orders (TPO) but have chosen not to pursue them as an offence.

Olasupo said there had been opposition to the project, with concerns about further antisocial behaviour.

"Of course, I'm upset, and when you see something that you've worked hard for deliberately damaged, you're human, it hurts," he told BBC Radio Manchester.

"The objective is to balance access and community benefit with protecting and enhancing the natural environment, and that's one of the things that we're trying to make very clear to people."

The charity founder told the BBC there had been reports of young people in Stoneclough using illegal motorised bikes, which Greater Manchester Police has confirmed.

But the force said the issue was no worse than in other areas of the city region.

Believe Achieve CIC was set up in memory of Olasupo's son, Kingsley, who died in 2019, with the aim of giving young people opportunities he never got to experience.

Despite the damage, Olasupo said he would not give up on the project.

"I've learnt something from Kingsley, that everything that happens… there is always a good thing at the end of the road."

Clarification 2 September: This article has been updated to make clear that temporary planning permission was granted last month after confirmation from Bolton council.

We have also added details about the Tree Protection Order. We have also added in details regarding illegal motorised bikes after confirmation from GMP.