I READ the part of your article about A-boards in Andover, quoting Councillor Woodward’s comments, with some scepticism.
As a result, I walked the length of Andover High Street and counted the number of potential hazards to disabled, blind and pushchair-operating pedestrians, using Councillor Woodward’s criterion of being difficult to manoeuvre around them safely.
I counted a total of 111 items, which included rubbish bins, cycle racks, telephone boxes, electricity distribution boxes, post boxes, lamp standards, hanging basket stands, cycle racks, street direction sign poles, bollards, benches, a tree and a load of balls.
This was in addition to the 17 A-boards still on display, some of which are within the entrance area of the relevant premises (and even one inside a window).
This list does not include the number of coffee bars with tables, chairs and some with surrounding screens or the benches in the time circle, or cars parked legally or otherwise. Some of these items have a smaller footprint than A-boards, while others are larger.
Has Councillor Woodward any thoughts on how to address these potential hazards?
A bit of logic might dictate that a number of officially approved areas might be provided by TVBC to allow the display of A-boards, with a suitable safety fence around them. Would this create a larger number of hazards, or would it reduce them?
Ben Cartwright, Over Wallop
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