“NO safety issue has been raised relating to the kerb heights” in Cirencester Market Place following an independent road safety audit, the chief executive officer of the town council has said.

This follows a number of people tripping over the ‘invisible kerbs’ and suffering injuries since they were changed to be lower and a similar colour to the road during the £1.4million Market Place regeneration.

A stage three road safety audit was undertaken by county council officers and the police following the revamp of the town centre.

Speaking at a town council meeting last Tuesday, chief executive Andrew Tubb said the report has “raised a number of issues that need addressing and a range of options for addressing those issues”.

He said the kerb heights were “something we did specifically ask the independent auditor to look at because of the public concerns about the kerbs”.

“That said, it is something that will be considered again in the mobility audit and access audit.”

“The kerbs are all in accordance with the technical approvals that we received from the county council,” he added.

Cllr Sabrina Poole asked Mr Tubb if the council could “obtain data relating to serious accidents and falls in the town centre before the regeneration project and actually how the statistics compare?”

“I’m getting people saying to me all the time there are more accidents but I haven’t seen any data that proves that theory,” she said.

Mr Tubb said he had asked the county council if they have that information on record.

“They must have some records based on any claims that have been made, but they haven’t released that information to us,” he said. “It would help us tremendously.”

He went on to say: “The purpose of the scheme was to improve safety, to make the pavements better when you consider the state of some of the other pavements down Dyer Street, for example; that was our intention.”

Cllr Mark Harris said neither the NHS Trust nor local A&Es “record the information in a way they can dissect to give us those figures”.

Referring to Cotswold MP Geoffrey Clifton-Brown marching to 10 Downing Street earlier this month with a delegation of blind people to protest against shared spaces, Cllr Harris asked if he had contacted the town council as he claimed.

Mayor Nigel Robbins said: “No, the answer is he did not raise those issues with us before [the scheme was implemented] and I think if somebody doesn’t want to support shared spaces, they shouldn’t be invited to share our space.”

Cllr Robbins said that in the two meetings with representatives from disability groups he has been present at, “the major issue was actually about parking” and not tripping on the ‘invisible’ kerbs.

“That’s the one they were really concerned about because they couldn’t find their way around, and the divination of the number of blue badge holder spaces, and they said it was deterring people from coming in.

“Hardly anybody complained about falling. The fallers, I mean, are generally middle-aged and elderly people who are not disabled.”

“There’s an inconsistency there which needs to be pointed out,” he added.

He said he believes the council should publish a guide to show where blue badge holders are allowed to park in the town centre.