A council has invested thousands of pounds into developing a new building that houses a cycle hub.

The current building next to Holywell Community Centre at the The Pavilion in Chaffinch Lane is home to Watford’s Cycle Hub, but a recent survey concluded it was no longer fit for purpose.

Watford Borough Council says it has invested £400,000 to replace the building with a larger bespoke modular building to enable the cycle hub “to expand its core services”.

Since it was formed seven years ago the cycle hub has provided services including cycle repair, maintenance courses and cycle training.

The council says the new building will allow the cycle hub to cope with increasing demand on its services by having an expanded range of accessories.

The new building will also provide a community café and social space along with a larger workshop and office space.

Work on the new building is expected to be complete by March 2020. In this time the cycle hub will continue to run its normal services in a separate building and users should not notice any disruption.

Following the investment into the new building Mayor of Watford Peter Taylor said: “When I was elected, I made a commitment to investing in our Cycle Hub to give them brand new state of the art facilities.

“I’m really pleased to see work starting on this. The Cycle Hub do a great job in helping to promote cycling in our town and provide an invaluable service to people in Watford.”

The investment into the building comes after the council introduced a new Cycle Hire Scheme and On Demand Bus Service into the town.

Mr Taylor continued: “I’m determined to make sure that we are a more sustainable, greener town. I can’t wait to see the finished improvements at our Cycle Hub.”

Director Kate Jenkins added: “We’re often referred to as ‘the best kept secret in Watford.’ The new development will really help to put us on the map and the improved facilities will mean we are able to serve the local community even more effectively.”