LTN 1/20 Cycle Parking Standards: A Specifier’s Guide

LTN 1/20 is the Department for Transport’s design guidance for cycle infrastructure. Published in July 2020, it replaced LTN 2/08 and LTN 1/12, and Chapter 11 covers cycle parking. Local plans set how many spaces a development needs. LTN 1/20 sets what those spaces have to be like, and Active Travel England assesses schemes against it.

This guide covers the provision tables, the dimensions planners check, security levels for long- and short-stay parking, and the product that meets each requirement, with DWG drawings for each.

What LTN 1/20 says about cycle parking

Chapter 11 covers four things: where cycle parking should go, how much is needed, which types are acceptable and what dimensions they need.

Short-stay parking serves visitors and shoppers, so it has to be obvious, easy to reach and close to the destination. Long-stay parking serves residents and staff, and has to be secure and ideally covered; the guidance is explicit that security is the primary concern for long-stay (para 11.2.4).

The following can catch out inherited schemes:

• Cycle parking should be considered at the earliest opportunity in a project, and should sit close to main entrances (11.1.4). Where parking sits upstairs, LTN 1/20 shows a wheeling ramp alongside the steps (Figure 11.5) and notes that these may not suit non-standard cycles, which need their own step-free spaces. Our bike stair ramp can be retrofitted to many existing staircases.
• Concrete slots and wheel-only hoops “should not be used for public cycle parking” because they don’t let the frame be locked (11.4.2).
• A proportion of spaces, typically 5%, must suit non-standard cycles such as adapted cycles, cargo bikes and tricycles, co-located with disabled car parking (11.3.2).
• Two-tier racks give around a third more capacity in the same footprint (11.4.9). LTN 1/20 puts the ceiling height for them at 2.7m or more (11.4.11); our two-tier racks need a minimum of 2,500mm.

LTN 1/20 is guidance rather than statute, but it is the benchmark Active Travel England uses when consulted in planning applications and the baseline most local standards are built from.

How many spaces: LTN 1/20 Table 11-1

Where a local authority has no cycle parking standard of its own, Table 11-1 gives the suggested minimum capacity by land use (11.3.1). Most authorities do have their own standard, usually higher, so treat these figures as the floor, not the target.

Source: LTN 1/20 Cycle Infrastructure Design, Table 11-1 (extract; full 12-row table on cycle parking requirements for new developments).

Spare capacity should always be built in for growth and turnover (11.3.4). London sits outside this table. The London Plan applies instead, with higher ratios: a central London office needs one long-stay space per 75m² (London Plan Table 10.2). For worked examples by development type and the full London table, see how many cycle parking spaces a development needs.

Layout and dimensions: the figures planners check

Table 11-2 gives recommended and minimum dimensions for banks of Sheffield stands. Stands need at least 0.6m clearance to walls and 1.0m clear in front so a bike can be wheeled in (11.4.6); where three-wheeled cycles are provided for, lateral spacing rises to at least 2.0m (11.4.8).

Source: LTN 1/20 Table 11-2 and paras 11.4.6–11.4.11.

For full aisle layouts, product footprints and downloadable drawings, see the cycle parking dimensions and spacing guide.

Security levels and what each means on site

Short-stay parking means two-point locking to a fixed stand (frame and both wheels secured), which is why the Sheffield stand is the default.

Long-stay parking requires the bike to be out of sight and behind something: a covered shelter where the site is overlooked, an enclosure or compound with controlled access where it isn’t, and individual lockers where the value of the bikes or the exposure of the site justifies it.

Secured by Design is the police-preferred specification that residential planning conditions and housing providers increasingly ask for. It is awarded product by product, so the specification needs to name the certified variant.

Five products in our Secured by Design range hold it: the Sheffield stand, semi-vertical rack and two tier rack (standard and gas-assisted) are each Sold Secure Silver, and the Impregnable shelter is rated Sold Secure Gold. Standard versions of the same products carry no independent security rating.

Bicycle Association and Sustrans public cycle parking standard (2021)

The Bicycle Association’s public cycle parking quick-test checklist covers security, convenience and durability.

• On security: wheels and frame need to lock with no more than two locks, the stand has to support a standard bike upright without a kickstand, and the equipment should test independently to Secured by Design Level 1 or 2.
• On convenience: no wheel or frame should need lifting more than 50cm unaided, and parking should take under 105N of force, assuming a 15kg cycle.
• On durability: the equipment needs to suit cycles up to 25kg without scratching a mudguard or forcing components, keep sharp edges and corners covered, and use fastenings that can’t be removed with an Allen key, spanner, torx or screwdriver.

From requirement to product

Each row below takes a requirement from LTN 1/20, names the product that meets it and links the drawing or spec sheet to attach to the planning submission.

You can find our full library in our DWG and specification downloads hub.

Every route above is designed and manufactured in Britain, backed by a 10-year warranty against manufacturing defects, and available with installation. Where a standard product doesn’t suit the site, our in-house design team produces bespoke variants, with complimentary site surveys across the UK.

Standards beyond LTN 1/20

London: London Plan Policy T5 and LCDS

In London the London Plan cycle parking standards, which specifiers also know as the GLA or TfL cycle parking standards, apply in place of Table 11-1. Table 10.2 sets long-stay and short-stay minimums by use class: offices at 1 space per 75m² in the Central Activities Zone and 1 per 150m² elsewhere, dwellings from 1 space per studio up to 2 per larger home. Policy T5 Part B requires proposals to show how facilities cater for larger cycles, including adapted cycles, and layouts follow the London Cycling Design Standards.

Since 25 March 2026 the residential long-stay minimums have been replaced, until 31 March 2028, by banded figures under the Mayor’s Support for Housebuilding guidance: 1.0, 0.9 or 0.7 spaces per studio or one-bed flat depending on the borough’s band, rising to 1.9, 1.6 or 1.5 for three-bed homes. Camden and the City of London sit in Band 1. The full tables are in London Plan Chapter 10 and the March 2026 guidance.

BREEAM Tra 03

Cycle storage contributes to BREEAM mainly through Tra 03, cyclist facilities, which assesses secure, covered, accessible parking for building users, and can support Mat 03 where products are responsibly sourced and made in the UK. See our BREEAM cycle storage for the credit-by-credit breakdown.

Scotland, Wales and local standards

Outside England, cycle parking sits under separate policy. Scotland works through National Planning Framework 4, Policy 13 on sustainable transport, applied through each council’s Local Development Plan. Wales works to the Active Travel (Wales) Act 2013 and Technical Advice Note 18. Northern Ireland uses LTN 1/20 directly.

In England the figure a condition is written against comes from the local authority’s parking SPD or Local Plan, usually filed under planning policy on the council website, with LTN 1/20 as the fallback where none exists. Pre-application advice confirms which standard applies before layout work starts, which is where most abortive design gets avoided.

Cycle parking by sector

Educational institutions sit under Table 11-1’s separate staff-and-student row, sized against Travel Plan targets rather than a flat ratio: a minimum of 1 space per 20 staff and 1 per 10 students. Cycle shelters for schools works the capacity by roll size.

Offices fall under the employment row (A2/B1, now Class E): 1 short-stay space per 1,000m² and 1 long-stay space per 200m², rising sharply under the London Plan. Office-specific layouts sit within our cycle parking solutions.

Residential developments, outside sheltered or elderly housing, need 1 long-stay space per bedroom, secure and covered, with 5% for non-standard cycles co-located with accessible parking. Residential cycle storage covers tenant store options.

Transport interchanges are assessed on their own merit at standard stops and at 1 short-stay space per 200 daily users at major interchanges, with no long-stay figure set. Charging for e-bikes is an emerging planning condition rather than an LTN 1/20 ratio. See cycle storage for transport hubs for high-turnover layouts and e-bike storage for charging provision.

What planners and Active Travel England ask for on real schemes

In our experience, pre-app and condition discharge rarely turn on the points specifiers worry about. The 5% non-standard provision is the one that does come up: we regularly draw an area for accessible cycles and cargo bikes into the design, and it is a routine part of the planning submission.

Two-tier headroom is not queried; our racks work at 2,500mm clear height and planners are used to seeing it. We have never seen a store challenged for sitting away from the entrance, though we push for it anyway, because the easier a shelter or enclosure is to reach, the more it gets used. Lighting comes up more than drainage: solar units or PIR mains-wired lighting in compounds, with drainage usually discharging overground and occasionally connected to a drain outlet.

What arrives more often now are requests for facilities alongside the parking: work benches, public maintenance stands, bike wash stations and safe e-bike charging, or the capacity to add it later.

What the standards look like once built

Two projects show how those points land on site:

• At Court Place Gardens, Oxford, postgraduate housing for the University of Oxford, more than 140 spaces went into Greenwich Cycle Stores on gas-assisted two-tier racks, with sedum roofing supporting the BREEAM submission.
• At Hawkins Road, Colchester, a 282-bed student scheme for Watkin Jones, a 100-space Amazon Eco two-tier shelter and six vertical lockers cover long-stay demand, with stainless Sheffield stands at the building entrance for visitors. The scheme achieved BREEAM Excellent.

FAQs

Is LTN 1/20 mandatory?
No. LTN 1/20 is non-statutory design guidance, not law. Active Travel England assesses major schemes against it, and planning conditions are written against the local authority’s own standard, which usually references or exceeds it. In practice, that makes it the de facto benchmark even without legal force.

What is the minimum spacing between Sheffield stands?
1.0m minimum, 1.2m recommended, measured centre to centre under LTN 1/20 Table 11-2. Where three-wheeled or adapted cycles are provided for, lateral spacing needs to rise to at least 2.0m (11.4.8). Our standard distance for Sheffield stands is 750mm, but we offer 1000mm on request.

Does long-stay cycle parking have to be covered?
LTN 1/20 asks for long-stay parking to be secure and “ideally covered” rather than mandating cover outright. In practice, most local planning standards and BREEAM’s Tra 03 credit both expect cover, so treat it as required unless a specific scheme says otherwise.

What counts as a non-standard cycle, and how many spaces do they need?
Adapted cycles, cargo bikes, tricycles and tandems all count as non-standard. LTN 1/20 asks for a proportion of total capacity, typically 5%, to suit them, co-located with disabled car parking and sized for wider turning and loading (11.3.2).