Kettering's Market Place 'Hazard' - Northants Evening Telegraph
03 Aug 2010
(Extract from the Northants Evening Telegraph)
THE design of Kettering’s new Market Place development has been criticised by charities representing people with visual impairments.
The Guide Dogs Association has raised eight specific concerns with the layout and Nothamptonshire Association for the Blind says its members face huge problems when walking through it.
Kettering Council has defended the design, pointing to the numerous awards the development has received recently.
Hugh Spence, a visually impaired 18-year-old who volunteers with the Association for the Blind in Kettering, said: “The thing I find difficult is that the tramline design on the ground, which visually impaired people would follow, leads directly into trees and the water.
“My big problem is I cannot judge depth, so I would come along here and without handrails to warn and guide me would see it as all one level.”
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