Cut your hedges, pleads man with impaired sight

A VISUALLY impaired man has called for people to take more care maintaining their hedges.

Humphrey Loughton, 72, is partially sighted and has to use a cane when out walking.

He says he is often forced into the road by overgrown garden hedges that take up pavement space.

Mr Loughton, who lives in Makins Road, Henley, with his wife Rosemary, encounters problems walking into the town centre from home via Blandy Road and on the roads around St Andrew’s Road and St Mark’s Road.

He said: “People let the hedges grow very far out, so there is just a thin bit of concrete left.

“When I am out with my wife we have to walk one behind the other and I end up walking in the road.

“I am anxious that I will fall off the kerb, which I cannot see.

“If it weren’t for the branches, I could happily walk along the street.”

Mr Loughton, who used to work as an accountant, said that hedges are left to grow over the boundary with the pavement, which is public space. His head often hits overhanging branches so he uses his cane to feel for it.

He said: “Often people will cut them and get them looking nice but they will still be left hanging out over the public highway. The problem is these are often fir hedges which people often don’t want to cut as they look bad when freshly cut.

“It is a problem that affects all visually impaired people, not to mention wheelchair users and people with buggies.”

Mr Loughton said the problem was often exacerbated by people’s bins being left on the pavement after collection.

He said: “The bigger ones I can usually see but the smaller food waste bins are often a problem. They are discarded on the side by the binmen and I can’t see them.”

He decided to raise the issue after listening to the Talking Newspaper, a weekly recording of Henley Standard articles read by volunteers for people with impaired eyesight.

Mr Loughton said: “One of the articles they always read out is the Thought for the Week and I thought it would be nice to have a bit about the small things people can do for other people.

“It’s just to emphasise to people to think of others, as it says in the Bible. You don’t even have to be Christian — most religions encourage you to think about other people.

“If you are fully sighted, you are fine but think about others that are not. I would challenge people to put on a blindfold and put their arms out and see how they get on walking along a street.

“I have a friend in a wheelchair who was going along Bell Street where the pavements go in and out and someone let her pass but did not leave enough room, so her wheel hit the kerb and she fell into the road and hit her head.

“People take their ability to do and see things for granted so when you lose this, it’s interesting to see how people respond.”

Mr Loughton became visually impaired four years ago following major surgery when his aorta split.

“I am very, very lucky,” he said. “They stopped my heart and my brain was on bypass. When the blood came back into the brain a tiny air bubble travelled to the bit in the brain that deals with vision.”

A spokesman from MyVision Oxfordshire, a charity which supports people living with a visual impairment, said: “Obstacles on the pavement can be a big problem when you are living with sight loss.

“Orientation and mobility training often rely on recognising and remembering specific routes to get around.

“As this environment changes, it makes going out more difficult and often dangerous. Overgrown hedges and trees can often mean banging heads or getting scratched.

“It is also common to be forced ino the road when getting around bins, signs, e-scooters and cars parked on the pavement.

“MyVision Oxfordshire’s message to the public is to please be mindful of others and keep footpaths clear.

“This helps keep blind and visually impaired people safe in their environment and is also beneficial to people with pushchairs, wheelchairs and mobility scooters.”

A spokesman from Oxfordshire County Council encouraged people to report overgrown hedges on Fix My Street on the council’s website.

He said: “Most boundary hedges are not the responsibility of Oxfordshire County Council. However, as part of the Highways Act, we can ask the property owner to deal with the problem.

“If no action has been taken after we have submitted our request to cut back a hedge, then we can undertake that work ourselves.

“If the council has to carry out the work then the cost can be reclaimed from the property owner.”