Amsterdam is pressing ahead with its plan to ban fatbikes from the city’s Vondelpark, saying “unsafe cycling” does not combine with the “recreational character” of the park.

In a briefing to city councillors, mayor Femke Halsema and transport chief Melanie van der Horst said officials received 120 concrete signals and reports about the problems caused by fatbikes in the park last year, and that this is the “tip of the iceberg”.

Van der Horst said in November that she wanted to ban the wide-wheeled electric bikes from some parts of the city, citing the Vondelpark as the first location.

The ban has to be implemented via local bylaws and is due to come into effect on May 11. The city defines a fatbike as one with tyres wider than seven centimetres.

Enschede introduced a city centre fatbike ban last year.