Street charter
The following bullet points are the result of round table discussions
at the Campaign Convention 2014.
What would you like to see in the street charter?
Wheelie bins
 Wheelie bins need to be addressed. Councils should leave bins
in a sensible place after emptying
 Could we put fluorescent strips on bins and bollards
 Could we ask bin crews, local residents to put the bins away?
 The bin lorries are unreliable. No-one takes responsibility. The
bins are flung back on the pavement. We need a good policy
enforced. Would be good to put the wheelie bin back on private
property, rather than on the curb or pavement.
 Wheelie bins – whose responsibility is it? Each household often
has multiple bins
Shared space
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Many people thought we should outlaw shared space
Any system which depends upon eye contact shouldn’t happen
Are we working with Age UK on shared spaces?
LAs don’t design shared spaces themselves, designers make
cash. Should we be approaching designers to influence them?
Pavement parking
 Some householders have to park on pavement otherwise there
is not enough room for cars to get along the road.
 Police often say if the car has gone there is nothing they can
do.
 Taxis and cars parked outside schools can be problematic
 Vans parked outside shops and bus stops – deliveries before
and after 6pm can be tricky
Overhanging branches
 Does over hanging branches count as an obstruction?
 Councils should maintain overhanging branches and bushes on
council properties
RNIB – supporting people with sight loss
RNIB charity numbers 226227, SC039316 and 1109
 Hanging trees often obstruct paths. If these come from a private
property there can be a legal fight to get them cut back
 Trees in the middle of pavements are not well maintained
Pavements/ footpaths
 Repair broken dropped curbs - the drop is not always
reinstated.
 Cracked pavements should be maintained (they cause bad
falls)
 Important to fix loose paving
 Crucial to keep footpaths clear
 There should be a minimum standard for the width across on
foot paths – if that space is not available due to small
pavements then no clutter should be allowed at all
 Where pavements are wide – rules should be clear in terms of
decoration and position. A physical boundary should be present
 Puddles collecting on pavement and dipped paving can be
difficult to walking along. We should report to LA for repairs
 When wet pavements can be like an ice rink. Metal tactile
paving and marble brick are very slippery. This doesn’t just
affect partially sighted people, it can affect people with buggies
and wheelchair users.
 When curbs go down, we need the tactile bit to show where to
walk. It would be good if the tactile section was bigger as it’s
very easy to over shoot.
 Tactile paving gets worn down very quickly
 Duty to clear snow and ice off pavements. Each local area does
something different.
 Tactile pavements- sometimes there is an overload and it’s put
in the wrong places.
 Can we put borders around any open hole to prevent people
falling into it.
 Often there can be cars on driveways which go out into the
road, and there is no way of knowing this which can often result
in collisions.
 Lampposts are a challenge
 Local authority say pavement is a police issue, police say it’s a
local authority issue
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Local councils/ authorities
 They should have an accessible and simple complaints process
 They must find a way to enforce the rules – often there is a lack
of resources to do this.
 Planners need to have awareness of the issues - LAs can be
dismissive of disability
 There need to be meaningful consultations with time to
respond. Often councils say they have already consulted but
they usually have a select group of people they go to each time.
Also sometimes developments have progressed too far and it’s
too late to input any changes.
 There should be a stronger enforcement of cafe licensing
 We need to be sure who to go to and campaign. Currently it’s
hard to know who does what. It would be useful to have a
‘who’s who?’ for us to contact the right people.
 Council officers pass the buck to different departments within
the council
 Often LAs blame previous planners and are unwilling or unable
to make the changes
 Councils should sign up to abide by equality act and highways
act
 Local authority should inform new businesses of regulations
 It can be difficult to prosecute as they have to catch the people
in action
 Clearly define which matters are to be dealt with by the local
authority and which by the police
 If all local authorities stood up to zero tolerance policy and could
fine those who don’t stick to it.
 Easier for the police to have a zero tolerance rather than
licensing.
 Local authorities often say they don’t have a solution.
Crossings
 All crossings should have spinning cones/signals
 Well positioned crossings should be near tactile paving and in
the position where you are trying to cross the road
 When putting up new pedestrian crossings sometimes the
crossings have had audio removed or have a time of day when
they don’t work. This isn’t good.
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 It should be illegal for cars to jumps lights, like using a mobile
phone when driving
 Audio cone crossings need to be maintained.
Street signs
 The position of signs needs to be thought about. Often guide
dogs can get round them but if the sign has fallen over often the
dogs have to go off the curb while there are cars going past.
 Can temporary signage have solid bottoms? Otherwise small
and light a-boards with metal legs get blown over in a few
minutes. Maybe sand bags could keep them in place. However
this wouldn’t stop people falling over.
 Signs are often camouflaged
 Many campaigners think there should be no A-boards
 There should be a universal standard for signs
 The positioning of signs is problematic. They are often too low
or too high. Traffic signs often hang so low you can bump your
head on them. Road signs are too high for people to read
Bollards
 Bollards blocking the pavement – what is their purpose? Would
be good to have the bollards a collar so there is some contrast.
Council often don’t know what the point of bollards are. Black
bollards can’t be seen in the dark. In Wigan bollards are black
with a white marking at the top which makes them more visible
 No unnecessary use of bollards
 Positioning of bollards and lamp posts in the middle of
footpaths. Often the colour of them is the same as the floor.
Would be good is the floor and lamppost could contrast.
 When an event is on in town, often you walk along and can’t
see things so have to use your cane. Maybe bollards could be
used to make an event.
 Could we put fluorescent strips on bins and bollards
Public seating
 Public seating – again there is no contrast. As the cane goes
underneath it can mean people catch their shin on the seat.
 Seating – there needs to be colour contrast
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Potholes
 There is often a lack of money to repair pot holes.
Other
 Could there be license or training for users of electronic
scooters. Maybe a speed limit as well?
 Often railings don’t go down to the floor (e.g costa coffee) and
also on one edge of curbs – by crossings
 Bike stands are sometimes tied to rail crossings when they
shouldn’t be. We need to raise awareness among bike users.
 Guide dogs aren’t great with cyclists. Cyclists think dogs will just
stop.
 We need warning about electric buses and cars – people can’t
hear them
Tactics
 What is legal recourse?
 Could we have a name and shame – if you have a photo send
it in, should we receive responses if we do this?
Questions
 RNIB to work with European parliament to find out what is
happening in other countries. Is there a joint strategy?
 Can all campaigners have access to successful case studies so
that they can use these to convince local authorities?
[End]
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