It's funny how things sometimes come along in batches. I have had two phone calls in the last two days from two different partially-sighted residents in Cotham. They were both complaining about the flowering of advertising A boards on and around Whiteladies Road in recent weeks. They both find them really difficult to navigate and I've had previous complaints from wheelchair users.
They are right too! For example, the relatively new Somerfield store has a stonking four boards outside on the pavement, while a couple of shops further down have strategically arranged theirs so that pedestrians have to weave in and out of them. Further down still, there are some blocking the bus stops.
I am told (though I don't fully believe it), that there is limited legal scope for the Council to regulate A boards unless they are actually obstructing the pavement. I had the enforcement officer visit a couple of months back and remove a few, but he was happy with a number that I thought posed an obvious obstruction, especially where the pavement is narrow. To my view, you should be able to get a double buggy down a pavement as a good ready reckoner and I don't think this would hold on some bits of Whiteladies.
I have asked the enforcement person to come for another visit on the back of the current increase, but I will also be rolling this up into the work that I have just commissioned on reviewing and extending the walking strategy for the city. I will be seeing exactly what scope there is to prioritise pedestrians and especially those who have mobility and visual difficulties. A month on crutches reminded me that not everyone gets around that easily!
I understand and respect the need for businesses to advertise, especially in a recession and especially the small businesses that local people rightly prize very highly. However, we seem to be caught in a bit of an arms race at the moment, where one gets a sign, so the next place along gets a bigger one or two and so on. I don't very much like the commercialisation of public spaces, but where it becomes an impediment to people getting around, it really needs to be reined in.
3 comments:
I agree that the signs can be a bit over the top, but they pale into insignificance compared to motor vehicles parking on the pavement. However it seems that, in Bristol, that is not illegal. (Have a look at www.thisisbristol.co.uk/columnists/beat-constitutes-parking-obstruction-surprise/article-1805722-detail/article.html) As a pedestrian, this would be my number one priority for the council to tackle.
Bernard - the Council's ability to deal with pavement parking is limited. It's not something that has been passed down for enforcement by wardens (like parking on double yellow lines), so it is still a Police matter. I and other local people have been pestering the Police to act in hotspots, which they been doing to some extent. However, they rightly say that they can't be everywhere.
What has happened in the last week is we have asserted powers to deal blockages to dropped kerbs at crossing points. This is a particular problem for disabled pedestrians, older people, parents with buggies and so on. This will hopefully make a significant difference, but the problem remains that the wardens can't be everyone at once.
Other types of pavement parking are on my radar and I will be looking to the Pollice for solutions as part of the walking strategy review that I am leading on... more about this shortly.
Hi Neil - I am looking forward to the results of that review. Thanks.
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