The charity Guide Dogs has called on councils to introduce measures to control advertising-board distribution on pavements and remove obstacles for the disabled.
A survey of 69 towns in the UK reports 109 items of obstruction on Camden High Street, closely followed by Colchester (105 items), and Ballyclare in Northern Ireland.
Colchester High Street also holds 65 advertising-boards, the most along a single route, and more than twice as many as second place Hutton Road in Shenfield.
The report recommended councils ensure a gap of 1.5 metres was left on the pavement for pedestrians to pass unobstructed. It said businesses should only use advertising boards ‘where necessary’.
It warned that wheelie bins, hanging baskets, trees, parked cars, signage, bollards and café furniture also posed significant problems.
But the findings were dismissed by Camden LBC’s cabinet member for sustainability, Phil Jones, who said: ‘With help from the Royal National Institute for Blind People, the council and local businesses invested £1.5m in making the High Street safe and more accessible.
‘We also asked the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association to help shape our redevelopment plans, to ensure an inclusive High Street.
‘Camden is proud of the zero-tolerance approach to street clutter and will continue, where appropriate, to remove such items and take action where it is possible to do so.’
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