FROM the Jeremy Vine show to The Daily Mail – everyone is talking about Grimsby's shared spaces.
The issue came to the attention of the national press after the Grimsby Telegraph's story on the horrific injuries suffered by 74-year-old Waltham woman Anne Heenan, who fell after she failed to spot the kerb in the new-look Top Town.
As reported, she suffered a broken nose and severely bruised face in the incident in New Street, which she says has left her wary of going into town.
The street had recently reopened as a shared space, where the pavement and the road both have the same block-paved surface.
And, in the aftermath of the fall, North East Lincolnshire Council (NELC) has faced fresh calls to review its flagship town centre revamp amid concerns over safety.
The debate over the merits and potential dangers of shared spaces was taken up by experts and members of the public on Radio 2's Jeremy Vine show.
The first item on yesterday's popular news-based phone-in programme featured Mrs Heenan, who recounted her experience and called for more to be done to distinguish the pavement from the road surface. She described the scheme as "dangerous", adding she had seen a number of people walking in the road, believing it to be a pedestrianised area.
Mr Vine himself spoke of his "confusion" as he cycled through a shared space area in London, saying he found it hard to tell where he was supposed to be.
However, Ben Hamilton-Baillie – who has designed a number of shared spaces, though not the one in Grimsby – said this was no bad thing. He told Mr Vine the idea behind such schemes was to "confuse" motorists as to where the road ends and pavements begin, in order to slow them down.
He said: "The way to make the street safe is to make it dangerous."
He also countered Mr Vine's argument that not all drivers would curb their speed, resulting in accidents, saying that "reckless driving" can cause accidents on all kinds of streets.
One Grimsby resident who rang in to the show said he believed it looked great, but questioned the quality of the workmanship, saying it had led his girlfriend to fall.
He said: "If you stand on one end of the stone, the other tips up.
"I stood on one end of one of them and my girlfriend tripped on the other end."
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