Forum topic: Unblocking the pavement outside the Fox

A combination of the loading bay outside the Fox, the tables and chairs out on the pavement and vehicles parking on the pavement has on more than one occasion not left enough room for people using wheelchairs or pushing wide baby buggies to get up Fox Lane. How could the pavement and road be redesigned to stop this happening?

When the loading bay outside the Fox is occupied and when someone parks on the pavement nearby (a sadly frequent occurrence) there are only narrow gaps for pedestrians to pass through and nothing like enough room for a wheelchair or a wide baby buggy

It's great to see the Fox full of life, surrounded by flowers and its customers spilling out onto the pavement, but the current design of the public realm on the corner of Green Lanes and Fox Lane is proving problematical for pedestrians, and in particular for anyone who needs enough clearance to get through in a wheelchair, mobility scooter or a big baby buggy. The location of the delivery bay that's set into the pavement (is it meant to be used by cars or just brewery drays?) and the cycle stands often doesn't leave a wide enough space to get through. And the unfortunately frequent but presumably illegal use of the pavement further up as a delivery bay (why not just park lorries in the road, there's plenty of space?) combined with a nearby lamp post has the same effect a little further on.

It's clear that the pavement and road here need a redesign, though much will depend on how much of the pavement actually belongs to the pub and isn't a public right of way. Here's a suggestion posted on Twitter by @PaulObrienArch incorporating rain gardens (also referred to as SUDS - sustainable urban drainage system) to screen the tables and chairs on the pavement.