On Friday morning, 7th September, Wokingham Councillors rose to the challenge to escort people with sight and movement disabilities around the streets near the centre of town. The idea, from Wokingham Area Access Group, (WAAG) was to give councillors some insight into problems that the positioning of “A Boards” could cause to some of our citizens and visitors to the town.  
 
Councillors who volunteered were Keith Baker, Chris Bowering, Dennis Carver, Ulakarin Clark, Stephen Conway and Dianne King. Also present were Brian Newman – Town Centre Manager, Liz Creighton – Woodley Town Centre Manager and Brigid Batt-Rawden - Access Officer.  
Their guides included Ann Buckle, Candy Egan, Eric Davies, David Gaskin Diane Tomlins and David…..Access Officer from Newbury.  
 
A very quick look around indicated that there were less boards on the pavement than was normal for a Friday morning. Even then it was immediately clear that the lack of uniformity in where the boards were placed in effect caused chicanes to be formed through which buggies and scooters had to negotiate. This was also very difficult for those with sight impairments. On the narrower pavements it was just possible to get a narrow wheelchair through the space but not possible to manage a scooter or double buggy.  
 
Unfortunately too we also observed when we were approaching the narrow access caused by the “A Boards” more often than not it was the people with disabilities who had to wait to get through.  
 
The councillors felt the exercise had been useful and would help them in their discussions later this month. The Town Centre Manager also had chance to talk about some ideas for dealing with the issue and still allowing premises to be advertised.

written by David Anderson MBE, 10/09/2007

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