Street 'unsuitable for the blind'

Guide dogs are trained to sit down at kerbs before crossing the road

A street which had its kerbs removed to allow cars, bikes and pedestrians to share the same space has been condemned as a failure by a guide dog owner.

Jed Stacey said the "shared surface areas" in Ashford High Street meant dogs did not know where to stop.

He said the same design was being proposed for the ring road.

Kent County Council said planning for the scheme was at an early stage but the concerns of blind people and others with disabilities would be considered.

Mr Stacey walks round Ashford with his guide dog most days and said without kerbs and audible controlled crossings it was very difficult to get about.

'Death traps'

"My dog is trained to walk in the centre of the pavement and stop and sit down at the kerb.

"This also enables me to use this kerb point as an orientation aid... but if all that's gone then I'm not going to know if I've crossed a traffic way," he explained.

"The town centre in Ashford at the moment is quite dangerous because I don't know whether I'm in the path of a vehicle or a bicycle, and my dog is used to walking in the centre of a pavement where there's just people."

Mr Stacey has raised his concern with the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, which is seeking to persuade councils to take the needs of blind people into consideration when considering road schemes.

In a report published last month, it described the new pedestrian schemes, where roads and pavements exist at the same level, as "death traps".

"Unless the needs of visually impaired people are incorporated into such schemes, we'll soon be reading about fatalities," said Tom Pey, the association's director of policy and development.