Cinderford shoppers have been going round in circles trying to guess what a colourful new feature in the town is all about.

Four multi-coloured hoops on the edge of the Triangle were installed last week creating a mixed reaction from passersby.

The hoops, made by MissFire blacksmith Claire Robertson, cost £3,490 to create and install as ornate bike racks.

They have been painted in Cinderford Rugby Club colours and two more are to be placed outside McColl's further up the High Street.

"I think it's a waste of money," said pensioner Norma East, 72. "When you consider the state of the roads elsewhere in town I think the money could have been better spent. It's so bad that you get splashed by cars driving past."

Mum-of-three Elaine Trigg, 24, said: "It's unusual I suppose, but they could have spent the money better.

"There's not many people who need to park their bikes, it's free car parking that people want."

Brian Morgan said he thought the hoops helped tidy the town up.

He said: "At least they've put them in the ground deep enough that they won't be stolen for scrap! It does make the town look better but I think the main thing is to try to encourage more shops to come here."

Maggie Hart, 84, said: "They're quite unusual and it's nice to see something colourful in the town."

As well as the bike racks, engineers will be putting a bollard in to stop people driving down Station Street and removing road signs from the town centre to create a "mixed space" used by both cars and pedestrians.

Chairman of Cinderford Regeneration Board Councillor Graham Morgan said it was important to realise the money for the work could not have been spent on something else.

"If we hadn't have had this work done, the money would have been spent doing a similar thing in another town," he said.

"The budgets can't be shifted around and we couldn't have spent that money fixing potholes.

"This will make the centre of town more user friendly for pedestrians.

"They've done a similar thing in Stroud and it's been successful."