Bike park within Amazon and Microsoft's Cambridge office building located down several flights of stairs

A new office block in Cambridge which will hold some of the most forward thinking tech companies in the world has located its underground cycle park down several flights of stairs.

In a move branded ‘rubbish’ by a local councillor, the location, at the Amazon and Microsoft offices, will be inconvenient and disadvantage the disabled, according to campaigners.

The 137,000 sq ft office space is opposite Cambridge Central Station, a city with one of the highest cycling populations in the country.

Chris Howell, a former Conservative city councillor said: “The block attracts some of the highest rents in the city, and there are very limited car parking spaces available to people working in the block, so almost everyone is expected to arrive by bike, foot or public transport.

“A fit, able-bodied cyclist with a light bike and no panniers would struggle with these stairs - anyone else - I suspect the cycle park is utterly useless,” he said in a blog, entitled How Not To Build A Cycle Park.

“This is a brand new, high profile office building in the cycling capital of the UK - how has something so rubbish been built?”

A spokesman for Camcycle, a local campaign group, told the Cambridge News: “Cycle parking should help make cycling the natural, easy choice, so that people are motivated to use it.

“This is yet another failure of the CB1 development. It highlights the need for the City Council to have a full-time Cycling Officer to scrutinise plans like these, and for the Planning Department and Councillors to stop allowing through proposals which create long-term problems.

“We invite the owners of the building to be filmed attempting to use this cycle parking with a trailer or heavier bike. We will be happy to supply such a bike, and invite the Cambridge News to come and photograph and video their attempt."