Planners face the shared surface challenge

Planning, 16 May 2008

The disability equality duty introduced by the government in 2006 requires planning authorities to promote equality for disabled people. Guidance from the Disability Rights Commission, now subsumed in the Commission for Equality and Human Rights, says equality should be integral to planning decisions and the impact on disability equality must be assessed.

Many councils are removing barriers and kerbs to create shared surfaces where demarcation between pedestrians and vehicles is removed. Research by disability organisation the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association shows shared surfaces affect the safety of blind and partially sighted people and have created no-go areas in some towns.

Establishing priority usually relies on eye contact between drivers and pedestrians. But blind and partially sighted people have to rely on kerbs to navigate streets. Other organisations share Guide Dogs' concerns. In 2007, a joint statement on the implications of shared surfaces was backed by more than 20 organisations representing people with a range of physical, sensory and learning disabilities.

A campaign report published by Guide Dogs in February shows the effect of shared surfaces. By implementing shared surfaces, councils are restricting the safe independent mobility of disabled people and are at risk of failing to meet their disability equality duty. Despite this, councils across the UK are still including shared surfaces in street development proposals. Some have tried to create safe areas that seek to provide footway equivalents for vulnerable pedestrians. But the delineation of the safe area is crucial and many councils are unwilling to incorporate kerbs.

Guide Dogs has tested the effectiveness of delineators which councils have used or proposed in place of kerbs. Design trials involving blind and partially sighted people and others with mobility difficulties, carried out with University College London, showed that none of the delineators tested could be recommended for use to delineate between pedestrian paths and areas shared with vehicles.

Unless an alternative delineator is shown through research to be effective, footways with kerbs, along with dropped kerbs and tactile paving, must be retained. Guide Dogs is willing to work with councils, but research must be done ahead of implementation as delineators that prove ineffective in practice are unlikely to be removed once the scheme is completed.

The involvement of disabled people is essential in meeting the disability equality duty. Guide Dogs' experience is that consultation is often not considered effective by disability groups as key aspects of shared surface schemes seem to be determined in advance.

The challenge for planners and designers is to create attractive, people-friendly streets without using shared surfaces which affect the safety of disabled people.

Carol Thomas is access and inclusion manager at the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association. For more information about the Shared Surfaces Campaign Report, visit www.guidedogs.org.uk/sharedsurfaces.