| I recently had the pleasure of working with the Tweeddale Access Panel (TAP), helping them to assess options for making the streets of Peebles more accessible for disabled people. I wanted to write briefly about this for two reasons - the process of conducting work like this under the restrictions of the coronavirus pandemic; and secondly, some wider observations arising from the work. |  |
The processs...
In terms of the process, TAP had secured some funding from the Scottish Borders Council and wanted to find some support to help their members look critically at the pedestrian environment and find ways that it could be made better for disabled people. We agreed to arrange a series of street access audits in September and October, before the winter weather set in; however, this also was when new restrictions on gathering and physical distancing came in. As a result, I thought that we would need to postpone the project.
However, the Chair of the Panel proposed a creative solution - that we would do audits, not in small groups but in pairs, and then I had the job to collate and assemble our findings. So I carried out three audits in Peebles (essentially north, central and south) with the TAP chair, while other members of TAP ‘buddied together’ on walks in pairs to carry out their own surveys in the town. In all, we conducted seven ‘mini-audits’ between us and these were collected into three reports (plus a summary).
Inevitably, this method meant that some of the richness of on-site discussions about different views was lost. Everyone has a unique perspective and different people pick up on different things during an audit, and I only got to meet two of the TAP members. However, it was possible in this way to bring together a wide range of different inputs while complying with Covid-19 guidance, and producing resources which will hopefully result in tangible improvements to the town’s accessibility.
However, the Chair of the Panel proposed a creative solution - that we would do audits, not in small groups but in pairs, and then I had the job to collate and assemble our findings. So I carried out three audits in Peebles (essentially north, central and south) with the TAP chair, while other members of TAP ‘buddied together’ on walks in pairs to carry out their own surveys in the town. In all, we conducted seven ‘mini-audits’ between us and these were collected into three reports (plus a summary).
Inevitably, this method meant that some of the richness of on-site discussions about different views was lost. Everyone has a unique perspective and different people pick up on different things during an audit, and I only got to meet two of the TAP members. However, it was possible in this way to bring together a wide range of different inputs while complying with Covid-19 guidance, and producing resources which will hopefully result in tangible improvements to the town’s accessibility.
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Observations and insights...
The findings of this work are for TAP to take forward as they see fit. But I was struck by some observations about pedestrian mobility in the town which I think are of broader significance.
Firstly, on my initial visit, I was quite surprised to find that the High Street had only a single pedestrian crossing (a pelican). As a result, people are constantly walking in and through traffic to cross the High Street. If a vibrant street like this is to work at its best, it must be easier to cross it safely!
The broad High Street itself is (less surprisingly) packed with cars. Relatively high levels of car use and dependency are always a factor in rural market towns, and Peebles has an additional fundamental problem in that the A72 runs straight through the town centre. However, there must be options to reduce the dominance of traffic through the town - most obviously the introduction (along with other towns in the Scottish Borders) of experimental introduction of a 20mph limit must surely make sense on a permanent basis?
Finally, away from the town centre, the engineering of residential areas illustrates the massive legacy of streets hostile to walking which so many towns suffer from. In the south of the town especially, the post-war housing estates have massive ‘bell-mouth’ splays at almost all junctions, encouraging vehicles to move fast and increasing the distance for pedestrians to cross. In the older northern part of the town, many pavements are barely a metre wide, often adjacent to significant traffic levels. Although most pavement surfaces are in relatively fair condition, dropped kerbs and (even more so) tactile paving is scarce. In these circumstances, it was therefore not surprising to learn (and observe) that many wheelchair users and buggy pushers use the road rather than the pavements. A sight which is a fairly damning verdict on the pedestrian environment…
Firstly, on my initial visit, I was quite surprised to find that the High Street had only a single pedestrian crossing (a pelican). As a result, people are constantly walking in and through traffic to cross the High Street. If a vibrant street like this is to work at its best, it must be easier to cross it safely!
The broad High Street itself is (less surprisingly) packed with cars. Relatively high levels of car use and dependency are always a factor in rural market towns, and Peebles has an additional fundamental problem in that the A72 runs straight through the town centre. However, there must be options to reduce the dominance of traffic through the town - most obviously the introduction (along with other towns in the Scottish Borders) of experimental introduction of a 20mph limit must surely make sense on a permanent basis?
Finally, away from the town centre, the engineering of residential areas illustrates the massive legacy of streets hostile to walking which so many towns suffer from. In the south of the town especially, the post-war housing estates have massive ‘bell-mouth’ splays at almost all junctions, encouraging vehicles to move fast and increasing the distance for pedestrians to cross. In the older northern part of the town, many pavements are barely a metre wide, often adjacent to significant traffic levels. Although most pavement surfaces are in relatively fair condition, dropped kerbs and (even more so) tactile paving is scarce. In these circumstances, it was therefore not surprising to learn (and observe) that many wheelchair users and buggy pushers use the road rather than the pavements. A sight which is a fairly damning verdict on the pedestrian environment…
Overall, this is not an environment which encourages everyday walking and wheeling and will take years and a lot of money to fix, and of course, not just in Peebles. At a national level, new plans and priorities for infrastructure investment are being made, through the work of the National Infrastructure Commission and soon, the Strategic Transport Projects Review. Will this result in real investment in better neighbourhood pavements, road crossings and such like? This may not generate the same headlines as duelling trunk roads or launching new ‘active travel freeways’, but might be the best value investment of all, for the benefits to health, local economies, inclusion and the environment. We need to make a start!
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