A disability campaigner has won the right to take her case to the Court of Appeal in a legal battle over the Department for Transport’s minimum kerb height guidance.
Highways magazine and website reported that campaigner Sarah Leadbetter brought a judicial review claim against the DfT’s 2021 Guidance on the use of Tactile Paving and its provision for a minimum kerb height of 25mm.
Highways reported that both parties face a further legal showdown after the High Court found in February that the consultation period for the new guidance, which lasted just 12 days, was unlawful but also declined to quash the guidance itself.
The report said that DfT guidance states that “in the absence of a kerb upstand greater than 25mm high, [the visually impaired] may otherwise find it difficult to differentiate between where the footway ends and the carriageway begins”.
Ms Leadbetter – who is visually impaired and a guide dog user – has maintained that the Government did not take into account a study conducted by University College London in 2009, which found that the minimum detectable kerb height for guide dogs and long cane users was 60mm.
The article said the DfT made specific provisions for the use of dropped kerbs to ensure that people using a wheelchair or those with buggies can get across the road. However Ms Leadbetter and her supporters argue that a mandatory 60mm height could have been used elsewhere.
Ms Leadbetter said she was pleased with the decision because “the minimum height of kerbs to keep blind and visually impaired people safe has been known for a long time now.”
She added: “It is preposterous that the academic evidence provided during the consultation was not taken into account during the updating of the guidance. Kerbs are essential for keeping me and my Guide Dog Nellie safe and stopping me from walking out into the road and into danger.
“The guidance in its current format is not safe and it will result in new streets being designed that are inaccessible for people like me. It is essential the guidance is correct and that is why we have appealed the original judgment.”
Ms Leadbetter’s legal challenge is supported by the National Federation of the Blind of the UK, (NFBUK), Guide Dogs UK and the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB).
Sarah Gayton, street access campaign co-ordinator for the NFBUK, told Highways: “There can be no compromise, kerbs prevent us from walking into danger and keep us safe. The minimum height of 60mm has been known for a long time now and this should be reflected in the updated DfT Guidance document”.
The DfT told Highways it cannot comment on ongoing legal proceedings.
