Proposed new design guidance for residential streets has come under fire for championing ‘shared space’ layouts without considering the implications for the blind or visually impaired. The statement in the draft Manual for streets that shared space designs work because ‘the need to negotiate causes drivers to travel slowly, and others to watch out and make eye contact before proceeding’, has alarmed disability groups. While supportive of the concept’s aim of creating more pedestrian-friendly environments, they want advice on how such designs should make provision for the blind or visually impaired. Carol Thomas, the Guide Dogs for the Blind’s access and inclusion manager, said: ‘If the consultants are arguing that such designs rely on eye contact between different road-users, that sets alarm bells ringing. ‘The manual needs to set out how the environment of the street can keep the blind following the line of the road.’ The Guide Dogs for the Blind has been investigating the ease with which the blind and visually impaired can use 10 shared space streets across the country, from Dundee to Ashford. An issues report on their experiences is due to be published within weeks. It would highlight how shared space schemes have left some of its members ‘unable to use parts of the town they live in’. Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, meanwhile, is considering the concerns of an access forum over its concept for transforming Exhibition Road in the South Kensington museums quarter into a kerbless, shared space route. ‘The council is keen to achieve the best-possible scheme, in terms of an inclusive design,’ a spokesman said, supported by ‘a programme of research that will involve representatives from disability groups’. These would be incorporated into the detailed design for the high-profile, £35M shared space scheme, he said. He stressed how the project’s access consultant, appointed on the forum’s suggestion, found many problems for the blind with the existing streetscene. The Guide Dogs for the Blind’s members have reported that, when they suggest providing some form of demarcation in shared space streets, local highway authorities often respond by saying ‘it’s already been decided that there won’t be any’, according to Thomas. The section in the draft manual on shared space is one where non-residential roads are explicitly considered. The draft proposals, drawn up by consultant WSP, have been criticised for only focusing on residential streets (Surveyor, 29 June). The shared-space concept, ‘generally accepted’ for residential areas, should be extended elsewhere, it recommends. The document says that shared space designs are already working successfully in busy areas, including Seven Dials in Covent Garden – where traffic and pedestrians intermingle at a junction of seven roads – and Shrewsbury High Street, where ‘courtesy crossings’ have been installed.