The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association

(Guide Dogs)

One year progress report October 2010

following the

Transport and Mobility Conference held 6th October 2009

Prepared by: Carol Thomas, Access and Inclusion Manager, Guide Dogs

Introduction

This report outlines the progress made on the priorities agreed at the Transport and Mobility Conference held in October 2009.

Conference Purpose

The purpose of the conference was two fold: first, to provide information to the sector about the work that Guide Dogs is doing, both in public policy and campaigning to promote the mobility interests of blind and partially sighted people. The second was to gather the views of the sector on the issues of greatest concern to blind and partially sighted people in relation to transport and mobility whether in the pedestrian environment, on public transport or in relation to international transport services.

Participants

Delegates from a range of organisations in the visual impairment sector attended the conference, as well as Guide Dogs’Chairman, Tony Aston and staff from the Public Policy and Campaigns Department.

Organisations represented included, from the visual impairment sector, Action for Blind People, the Joint Committee on Mobility of Blind and Partially Sighted People (JCMBPS), Macular Disease Society, Visionary (thenNALSVI, National Association of Local Societies of Visually Impaired People), National Federation of the Blind (NFB), Royal National College for the Blind, Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), St Dunstans, Thomas Pocklington Trust and Wales Council for the Blind.

From the wider access and disability sector there were delegates from the Access Association, Assistance Dogs UK, Disability Action (Northern Ireland) and Leonard Cheshire Disability.

Conference Report

Following the conference a report was issued to all participants and other interested parties summarising the proceedings and the priorities that had been agreed in the following areas:

  • Pedestrian Environment
  • Buses and taxis (including minicabs)
  • Rail and light rail (tram)
  • Air travel and shipping (including ferries)

The views gained at the conference are being used to inform Guide Dogs’ work programme priorities to ensure that we are addressing the issues that really matter to blind and partially sighted people and that will do most to advance mobility.

We promised to provide progress reports at 6 monthly intervals. This is the second of those updates.

The mobility and transport priorities of blind and partially sighted people

The priority mobility and transport issues identified were:

  • The pedestrian environment including the key issue of shared surface streets and the requirement for accessible, inclusive streets.
  • Bus travel where the key campaign agreed was for audible and visual information on buses. The need for bus drivers to be aware of the requirements of blind and partially sighted people was also highlighted.
  • Issues were also raised in relation to travel by taxis and minicabs; rail travel and international travel by air and passenger ships.

Progress summary

In the year since the conference,as a result of both the public campaign activities and working to influence and gain support through policy activities, considerable progress has been made on the two priority campaigns of Shared Surface Streets and bus travel including Audio-Visual Information on buses. We have raised awareness among target audiences of politicians, local authorities, professional groups and the bus industry. While much has been achieved there is still more to be done on both issues.

We have also been active in taking forward the other priority issues identified by the conference relating to the pedestrian environment and across all public transport modes.

Working with others

Much of the progress has been achieved through working in partnership with others. At a UK and national devolved level we work closely with other visual impairment and disability organisations; with bodies also seeking improvements for travellers including blind and partially sighted and other disabled people, such as Passenger Focus; with local authorities;representatives of transport industry; and with the design community and other professional bodies. At a local level we have worked with local groups to support local campaigns.

Guide Dogs has provided the secretariat support for the Joint Committee on Mobility for Blind and Partially Sighted People (JCMBPS) since 2005 and we work closely with our JCMBPS partners to ensure common positions and joint working to progress these. The support of JCMBPS in taking forward the activities outlined in this report is appreciated.

Guide Dogs’ Consultative Users Forum (CUF), comprising blind and partially sighted individuals from around the UK, has been active in promoting our campaign initiatives around the country and supporting us through members attending events and meetings with local authorities and service providers in their areas.

Pedestrian Environment

The accessibility of the pedestrian environment was identified as being key to the mobility of blind and partially sighted people. Important in its own right, it is also essential for access to public transport.

The issue of shared surface streets was endorsed by the Conference participants as a campaign priority. Alongside this other key issues highlighted included tactile paving, shared use pedestrian/cycle paths and quiet vehicles. Progress in these areas is reported below.

There have been several successful initiatives over the last year which have been designed to raise awareness across the pedestrian environment agenda. These include:

Publication of 'Inclusive Streets: Design principles for blind and partially sighted people' which sets out the key design criteria to ensure our streets – whether traditional street layouts or new designs based on the shared space concept – are safe and welcoming for blind and partially sighted people. This new booklet was published by Guide Dogs on behalf of organisations in the visual impairment sector and the Access Association representing local authority access officers and other access professionals; and is endorsed by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

CABE (Commission on Architecture in the Built Environment) published ‘Sightline’ in October 2010 to raise awareness among the design community of the mobility requirements of blind and partially sighted people. Guide Dogs will work with CABE to take this forward.

Work on the new International Standard on Access in the Built Environment where Guide Dogs’ Access & Inclusion Manager has represented the European Consumer Standards Body Design for All group on the ISO Panel preparing this. During 2010 the draft International Standard was issued for voting by the national standards bodies, following which revisions were made. The final vote will take place in 2011 and, if agreed, this will become an International Standard.

Guide Dogs has also participated in a new British Standard Institute (BSI) Panel on the pedestrian environment which has proposed work to ensure that new standards for the design, development and management of our pedestrian environments embrace the requirements of blind and partially sighted and other disabled people. At present this is not progressing.

It may be necessary for blind and partially sighted people to navigate level crossings which form part of a pedestrian route and there are often difficulties with their design and safe use. Guide Dogs and JCMBPS have contributed to the Law Commission and Scottish Law Commission review of legislation relating to level crossings and are working with the Rail Safety Standards Board and others to produce guidance for the design and operation of level crossings. In Scotland, we have a watching brief on a fatal accident inquiry for a level crossing incident. The inquiry is investigating level crossing design. The Mobility and Access Committee for Scotland has also participated.

  • We supported Planning Aid London (an organisation providing community support on town and country planning), to deliver a pilot training programme on influencing the planning system to improve the pedestrian environment to local blind and partially sighted people in 4 London Boroughs. This was a pilot programme which Planning Aid hopes to provide in other areas of the UK. Planning Aid Englandalso delivered a session to a meeting of Guide Dogs’CUF in May. Following this, two initiatives have been pursued:
  • A pilot initiative is underway in the East Midlands in which Planning Aid is working with Guide Dogs’ local CUF member and local societies to develop good practice guidance for planning authorities on engaging with blind and partially sighted people which will be rolled out across the UK following the pilot.
  • In Wales Guide Dogs is working with Planning Aid to identify support for local societies and access groups in responding to LA proposals for the public realm.
  • In Scotland, Guide Dogs participated in Transport Scotland’s Roads for All Forum, Consulting on the DDA: A Good Practice Guide, and the New and Emerging Technology Report. Guide Dogs exhibited and presented on new way finding technology at the first ever national conference on disability and the pedestrian environment which was run by Transport Scotland’s Roads for All Forum.

Guide Dogs worked with the London Visual Impairment Forum to respond to the Mayor's draft London Plan raising issues for the improvement of the pedestrian environment, and gave evidence to the Examination in Public for the London Plan in September. Following that examination some revisions were made.

Guide Dogs has been invited, along with local groups, to input to several Local Authority Street Design Manuals such as Bristol, Leeds, Kent and Swindon; and a Guide Dogs’CUF member took part in a pedestrian environment taskforce meeting hosted by Birmingham City Council. The invitation to participate in these initiatives often stems from responding to consultations about shared surface street proposals and enables us to demonstrate the benefits of considering the requirements of blind and partially sighted people from the outset.

  • In Northern Ireland:
  • Guide Dogs has responded to a number of consultations on the Masterplans for the regeneration of town and city centres. As a consequence we met with the chair of the Social Development Committee to raise concerns regarding the transparency of some of the Masterplan consultations. The chair was very supportive and agreed to take the concerns back to the main committee for discussion and action.
  • Guide Dogs is supporting ‘Lisburn in Focus’ – a Big Lottery fundedproject in partnership with RNIB, Lisburn City Centre Management and Lisburn City Council – where the need for well designed inclusive streets forms part of the action plan.
  • Belfast Streets Ahead project has produced an access report on quality walking corridors between the main train and bus stations and the city centre. The actions required are now being prioritised to create safer, more inclusive streets.
  • In Septemberthis year we demonstrated a new way finding system to a wide range of stakeholders including service users as well as representatives from the Department for Social Development, Roads Service, Access Officers, rehabilitation workers, landscape architects,Imtac(Inclusive Mobility Transport Advisory Committee), and the Department for Regional Development. This was very well received and generated a lot of interest amongst those who attended.
  • Guide Dogs won a tender for the delivery of Disability Equality Training to the Police Service of N Ireland. This training will include issues such as parking on pavements.
  • For guide dog and other assistance dog owners mobility is dependent on access with their dogs to the premises they wish to visit. This has been a particular issue in restaurants and other premises serving food. Guide Dogs has secured endorsement from the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) and the Royal Environmental Health Institute Scotland of a new card for guide and assistance dog ownersconfirming that these dogs should be allowed access to food premises and that there is no conflict with hygiene laws; and a programme of promotion of this to the retail sector is underway in collaboration with Assistance Dogs UK.
  • Access information leaflets are also available from Guide Dogs which provide advice to service providers such as restaurants, hotels and leisure facilities.

Local campaigns

Guide Dogs cannot deliver everything ourselves and thus we work with many organisations and local groups across the UK in their endeavours to raise awareness of the issues that blind and partially sighted people face within the pedestrian environment.

A successful local campaign initiative to highlight is the ‘walk a mile in my shoes’ carried out in Newport Wales where the local MP and Assembly Minister joined a guided blindfold walk around the town centre to raise awareness of pedestrian environment issues. As well as gaining local press coverage the MP and Assembly Minister were enthused to support Guide Dogs and local groups to take these issues up with the local authority. Guide Dogs is considering a programme of support for local groups to roll out this initiative in other areas of the UK.

We are keen to promote other successful local campaign initiatives to enable these to be taken up by local groups in other areas – so please let us know about your campaign projects.

Shared surface streets – inclusive streets

Endorsed by the conference as a campaign priority,there has been a considerable amount of activity on this issue:

Our campaign on shared surface streets, supported by over 40 organisations representing people across the disability sector and older people, has successfully raised awareness of the concerns and encouraged a shift in focus among key influencers from ‘shared surface’ implementation to community engagement in the process of public realm development and the provision of ‘better streets’. This was evidenced in the Parliamentary Advisory Council on Transport Safety (PACTS) October 2010 conference; and the publications ‘Kerb your enthusiasm’(PACTS, 2010), ‘Better Streets’ (Mayor of London, 2009),‘Designing Streets’ (Scottish Government, 2010) and Manual for Streets 2 (Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation, 2010).

While these key publications continue to present a case for 'level shared surface' in shared areas, this is increasingly presented as just one option along a sliding scale of street designs. They present various options to influence driver behaviour and pedestrian activity which do not rely on shared surface streets, and also highlight the need for effective community engagement.

While we continue to see local street development scheme proposals based on shared surface streets and mustremain vigilant to these, we are also seeing a change in focus from the key professions. We hope that this will culminate in the publication in 2011of the Department for Transport’s shared space guidance which aims to show how shared space can work for all users including disabled people.

Guide Dogs’ position on the ‘shared space concept’ has always recognised the benefits associated with the concept – removal of street clutter, lower traffic speed, and the creation of attractive welcoming places that prioritise pedestrians which all chime with our established policy positions – our concern has been where the concept is implemented through a shared surface street design.

Having successfully raised awareness of our concerns on shared surface streets, the shift in focus of key influencers will enable Guide Dogs to broaden our campaign strategy to callfor more inclusive streets and we will be refocusing in early 2011 to engage with the professional design and development community to promote inclusive streetscapes that are fit for the 21st century.

Shared surface streets campaign: Summary of achievements in 2010

Parliamentary activity

The Early Day Motion in Westminster Parliament gained 188 signatures

Lord Low initiated a debate on shared surface streets in the House of Lords spring 2010. Guide Dogs provided briefings for Lord Low and other supportive Lords and there was a lively exchange of views with Lord Faulkner for the Government.

In Scotland, a motion on shared surface streets was signed by just under half of eligible MSPs

We raised awareness of the campaign at party political conferences in England, Scotland and Wales.

Transport Scotland published 'Disability Discrimination Act: A Good Practice Guide for Trunk Roads and Motorways'. Guide Dogs participated in the launch conference in June. The guide is against the use of level shared surfaces within the area of their responsibility. The Minister for Transport, Infrastructure, and Climate Change, who opened the conference, recognised that there is an outstanding access issue on level surfaces and welcomed any thoughts on finding a solution. The Minister also recognised that within The Netherlands, a country where level surfaces are said to work, they also have recognised this outstanding access issue.