REDUCING speed, banning cars from the pavements and overhauling the shared space crossing are among concerns for visually impaired people navigating Commercial Road.

Yesterday it emerged that a scheduled independent safety audit of the shared space crossing at Regent Circus had been delayed until the new year.

Now campaigners have said more needs to be done to protect guide dog and white cane users in the area, including bringing the speed limit on Commercial Road down to 20 miles per hour and cracking down on parking on pavements.

Alan Fletcher, chairman of Swindon Guide Dogs, said he was disappointed the review of the shared space crossing, promised in the summer, has stalled.

“It is very disappointing that it will now not happen until next year,” he said. “They promised back in July, when the whole issue blew up, that there should be an independent assessment and it would be carried out in October or November.

“If they wait for months that will stop people using the site, especially people who are visually impaired. They will not use it until there are traffic lights put back in, and as an organisation, they need to be doing everything they can to make the site accessible.

“Putting it off is not the best outcome. It could be that the developers only made the promise to placate us, and there might be a way for the council to force them into doing what they said they were going to do.”

Alan said he supports a reduction in speed in Commercial Road, but would go further and deal with obstacles on pavements, including A-boards and parked cars.

“Our biggest problem on Commercial Road is the crossing and speed of the traffic, so bringing the limit down to 20mph would certainly be a good thing,” he said.

“Because it is a nice long straight road, by the time people are half-way up it their foot is down a little bit more, so reducing the speed limit would be great.

“The other thing for us is the obstacles in the street. A-boards being left down Commercial Road is a big problem, and we find it difficult, especially with a guide dog, because it becomes like going around chicanes.

“The crossings need to be looked at as well as reducing the speed, because in any built up area bringing speed of cars down will be a good thing.

“There is a big campaign going on at the moment about people parking on the pavements, and it is due to be discussed in the House of Lords soon. I walked into the back of a lorry which was parked on the pavement some time ago, and finished up with a three quarter inch scar and had to go into hospital and have stitches put in. That is a problem wherever you go.

“Sometimes if you come across an obstacle in the street people will simply turn around and go home, because they will not risk the alternative which is walking into the road.

“If something new is in your path that creates uncertainty.”