DPTAC Report on "Shared Space"
DPTAC, the Statutory Disabled Person's Advisory Committee, recently published a report on "Shared Space".
The recommendations are these :-
The government - via collaborative working between the DFT and DCLG - should take a lead role in the shared space agenda, including commissioning further research, and should not leave matters entirely to be dealt with by local authorities.
LTN 1/11 should be replaced by new guidance, with extensive input from disabled people.
Existing shared space schemes should be the subject of detailed independent evaluation, evidence gathering and impact assessments, with the involvement of disabled people.
Evidence gathering should include accidents occurring within shared space schemes, together with comparative data from other road layouts. This could be achieved by redesigning the STATS 19 form used by the police to record road traffic collisions.
The implementation of shared space schemes should be paused, until the independent evaluation referred to above has taken place.
If shared space schemes are to continue in the future, disabled people need to be fully involved in their conception, planning, design, implementation and evaluation.
Those involved in shared space schemes need to be cognisant of the need to comply with the Public Sector Equality Duty and the duty to implement reasonable adjustments.
The interests of those with a wide range of conditions, including mental health and neuro-diverse conditions, and learning disability, need to be considered in the wider context of shared space schemes.
The government should bring forward regulations under section 22(2) (a) of the Equality Act 2010 to specify that organisations which fail to comply with new shared space guidance will not be considered to have taken reasonable steps for purposes of the duty to make reasonable adjustments, in order to make it easier for disabled people to establish discrimination contrary to section 21 of the Equality Act 2010.
The government should ensure that advice is readily available on how to challenge local authorities on existing or new shared space schemes which exclude or have the potential to exclude disabled people.
There should be a public education campaign to promote safer and appropriate use of current shared space by all (pedestrians, wheelchair users and motorists included).
The term shared space should be retained. However, there needs to be a clear and agreed definition of what is meant by ‘shared space’.
