A Point of View THE SHARED SPACE IN KIRKINTILLOCH TOWN CENTRE By Susan Murray Background: East Dunbartonshire Council secured funding of £3M to create a shared space scheme in Kirkintilloch Town Centre. The aim is to create a space where people will want to spend time benefitting the local economy and the wellbeing of the citizens. However, from the beginning and during the trial period, there has been widespread concern about the shared space principle being applied to the junction at Catherine Street, Kerr Street and Cowgate. I have been contacting local residents by survey during my campaign to be elected as a Councillor for Kirkintilloch East and North and Twechar. An overwhelming majority of the people who returned the survey are worried about the shared space in Kirkintilloch town centre. I listened to these concerns and carried out some research into the principle of shared spaces. This is what I learnt: 1. The shared space principle looks at the space as either ‘link’ or ‘place’i a. ‘link’ – when the users main reason for using the space is to pass through b. ‘place’ when the users’ main reason is to linger in the space, visit shops etc. 2. The Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) produced a Street Charterii which it asks Councils to sign up to. It details the requirements which allow blind and partially sighted people to move around independently in a street environment. How This Affects Kirkintilloch 1. LINK vs PLACE Cowgate from Townhead Bridge to Catherine Street Junction This is a busy access route for local residents, to the Regent Centre shopping centre and other community buildings like the Park Centre and the Scout Hall, and from Southbank Business Park to the New Lairdsland Road bypass with high levels of traffic most of the day. People not using the town centre can avoid this route along the bypass but that is frequently static at busy times so it does not provide an attractive alternative for traffic passing through. Before construction began, the design of the project was modified apparently to accommodate some of the concerns raised by the community. Traffic light assisted crossings were introduced on Catherine Street and Kerr Street at the approach to the junction and the edge of the kerb was raised from being at street level to around 5cm (2 inches). When the project was presented to the Councillors for approval, this was the least preferred option presented by the officersiii but it was voted through. Issues raised by the public about the Catherine Street junction include: • The traffic lights at the crossings cause confusion when vehicles approach the junction as the green light appears to give them priority • The turning circle of buses means that there is only space for one bus to use the junction at a time and this causes alarm as these huge vehicles fill the junction • Long queues form quickly behind buses stopped at bus stops resulting in risk taking by drivers overtaking and/or speeding up through the junction
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Human behaviour is not readily adapting to the shared space o Drivers cannot make progress because they are unclear when allow pedestrians to cross o Pedestrians cannot make progress because of confusion about when they can cross safely o People avoid the problems and go elsewhere Parking at the junction and on the pavements blocking the clear space for pedestrians
Cowgate North of Catherine Street/Kerr Street to West High Street The appearance of Cowgate has been improved by the new streetscape and there is potential for pedestrians and businesses to benefit from a relaxing space to walk around and shop with reduced traffic interacting carefully with pedestrians. Before this space is finished or open to traffic, people are voicing concerns including: • The width of the ‘road’ being too narrow to allow vehicles to overtake a bus stopped at a bus stop. • The width of the ‘road’ being too narrow to allow 2 buses or a bus and a delivery vehicle to pass going in opposite directions. • Variation in the height of kerbs is puzzling and some are now a trip hazard for everyone, particularly older people, blind and partially sighted people. • The presence of obstructions like A- boards is annoying and blocks the pavements. 2. RNIB STREET CHARTER The RNIB Street Charter published in 2015 highlights the fact that under the Equalities Act 2010 anyone responsible for looking after the street environment has a responsibility to eliminate and tackle problems that make pavements and roads inaccessible for disabled people. At a recent presentation, Sandra Wilson, Chair of RNIB, told how blind people are apprehensive of being mown down in shared spaces but acknowledged that it is very difficult to accommodate everyone and said that the aim should be to “benefit as many people as possible”. In Kirkintilloch Town Centre there appears to be 2 areas of the Street Charter which should be addressed to make the shared space accessible to as many people as possible. • Obstructions should be kept to a minimum and should not encroach on the clear space needed to provide safe passage for [all] pedestrians • It should be easy for blind and partially sighted people to identify o the edge of pavements o crossing points Obstructions Lamp posts, bollards and other signs/posts are a problem and need to be kept to a minimum to help visually impaired people use the space. A-boards, bins, vehicles and bicycles parked on pavements are all unnecessary potential hazards for everyone using pavements. The new streetscape in Cowgate is encouraging cafés to put tables outside on the pavements and the area is being enhanced with trees. While this is a good thing to make it look and feel nicer, these do pose difficulties for visually impaired people.
Identifying the edge of pavements and crossing points In a shared space the edge of the pavement is usually at the same level as the road with only the design indicating that there is a change from pavement to road. Along Cowgate the raised the edge of the pavements at around 5cm (2inches) shows where the pavement stops and the road starts. This non-standard pavement height is not recognised as a kerb by trained blind dogs and, without the tactile markings, is not a clear indication of the pavement edge for visually impaired people. It could also be a trip hazard for all pedestrians. Tactile markings which can be felt with a blind person’s cane are important orientation aids and identify the edge of pavements and crossing points. These tactile markings must be wide enough so that a blind person cannot step over them while walking normally and not know they’ve missed them. They include • grooved markings which warn the blind that they are approaching an edge, as on railway platforms • raised dots which identify road crossing points. DISCUSSION Shared spaces have their critics but they work well for many places. If the outcome the Council are hoping for is a welcoming place where local people and visitors come to shop and linger in cafés and other local attractions then I applaud their vision and fully support their ambition. But the implementation is proving to be challenging. Despite there being a wealth of information on the benefits and pitfalls of shared spaces this project has encountered many of the pitfalls. Cowgate from Townhead Bridge to Catherine Street Junction is clearly a ‘link’ space. The community’s concerns about changing the Catherine Street junction were not listened to but they are proving to be correct. Experience elsewhere suggests that a busy junction is not the place to put a shared space. It is also important that the road network around a shared space works well and provides alternative routes. The hold-ups on New Lairdsland Road and the high volume of traffic diverting onto residential streets around the town centre suggest this is not the case. Even though the junction is not so busy now that people are avoiding Kirkintilloch town centre and going elsewhere, the traffic and pedestrians that remain still experience difficulties especially when buses are passing through. The bollards at the junction are regularly knocked over by vehicles -this alone highlights a design problem. Cowgate from Catherine Street/Kerr Street to West High Street could be a successful ’place’ space provided traffic flow is minimised. The community’s concerns about traffic flow along Cowgate in the new streetscape may yet prove to be correct when the buses travel along the length of Cowgate again. The 5cm (2inch) kerb height may prove to be a trip hazard for all pedestrians. RNIB Street Charter. It appears that East Dunbartonshire Council has not signed up to the RNIB Street Charter, or even taken its advice into account. There are things that can be done to make a shared space more, if not completely, accessible for the visually impaired. Some of these are in place, such as the raised dot surfaces beside the junctions. But, as there is no sound/ traffic light assisted crossings, the blind cannot cross the street independently along this length of Cowgate
unless the space is traffic free. Other tactile markings are missing or inadequate, such as grooves marking the edge of the pavement. The Council does appear to have tried to limit the number of obstructions, but the positioning and the size of the new bollards is not working well. CONCLUSION The community has legitimate concerns about the design of the shared space in Kirkintilloch town centre. The Council must address these concerns by • Listening to the community • Taking professional advice from experts in shared space and reviewing the design to make the town centre benefit as many people as possible. • Making the Catherine Street junction work better for vehicles, pedestrians and the disabled including visually impaired people. • Making the length of Cowgate benefit as many people as possible by including effective tactile markings at the edge of the pavements. • Ensuring that the 5cm (2inch) kerb height is not a trip hazard and is not a tipping hazard for mobility vehicles. i
SHARED SPACE IN URBAN ENVIRONMENTS, Guidance Note July 2012 by Flow Transportation Specialists Ltd. http://www.transportationgroup.nz/publications/120706_Shared%20Space%20Guidance%20Note_Issue%203 .pdf ii
RNIB Street Charter toolkit 2015 https://www.rnib.org.uk/sites/default/files/CA_Who_put_that_there_street_charter_toolkit.pdf iii
Presentation town centre improvements to Kirkintilloch Community Council by Kevin Argue/Jennifer Horne 13 April 2015