No action taken to address 'distressing' Aylesbury obstacle forcing wheelchair users into traffic

Local councillors have highlighted that scaffolding, set up to protect residents from a building at risk of collapse, has blocked part of Aylesbury High Street for nearly seven years.

The derelict unit at 112 High Street has been boarded off from the public for almost seven years, after it was feared that the semi-demolished building could collapse.

In 2023, The Bucks Herald spoke to a wheelchair user who said people with mobility issues were taking their lives into their own hands by trying to be independent.

One year later the BBC, spoke with a wheelchair user based in Aylesbury who said she was ‘lucky’ not to have been hit by a car along the busy road next to Aylesbury town centre.

Yet little progress has been made reconstructing the High Street unit. In May 2024, Bucks Council granted conditional planning permission for five dwellings to be built at the site.

But nearly one year on the site remains vacant, The Bucks Herald was unable to contact London-based company Bhox Ltd, that has obtained planning permission for the project, but understands that it has not responded to letters asking it to urgently address the situation.

Bucks Council told the BBC it was working with the new owners to remove the scaffolding last June, but was unable to provide a timeline or update to this newspaper on when that might happen.

Calls for an archway to be erected in the meantime, which would allow the protective scaffolding to remain in place, while making the path more accessible, appear to have gone unnoticed.

A Bucks Council spokesperson said: “We fully understand the ongoing frustrations residents have regarding pavement access at this location, particularly for wheelchair and mobility vehicle users and for those with buggies or prams. As stated previously, the building in question is privately owned and as such the council has no powers to take action to resolve the immediate issue. The scaffolding must remain in place for safety, until such time as the necessary repairs are made to make the building safe again. In the meantime, we continue to encourage pedestrians to take extra care or find an alternative route to safely navigate the location.”

Aylesbury Town Councillor Tim Dixon mocked the idea that alternative routes are available to wheelchair users in a post on Facebook, and said he and other officials are working hard to get the scaffolding removed. He was criticised, however, for making light of the issue in the same post where he also celebrated the structure’s upcoming seventh birthday.

In an email seen by the Bucks Herald, one resident said: “You seem to be making a big joke of the problem which causes distress to disabled people especially.”

The resident went on to state his attempts to rectify the blockade, which takes up the entirety of the pavement, has largely been ignored by politicians and officials.

He said: “I have offered to pay for a site inspection by a scaffolding construction specialist to determine whether it would be safe to form an archway through it. The scaffolding contractor has said that if it is declared safe he will make the modifications free of charge.”

He says his suggestions, in recent months, have been ignored by Aylesbury’s MP and the chair of Bucks Council, as well as other people within the local authority.

Andrew Clark, chair of trustees for Buckinghamshire Disability Service, an independent charity, has backed the resident’s calls for an immediate site inspection. He said: “We call on all concerned to show some drive and determination to resolve this issue immediately. It has gone on long enough and would be an affront in any local authority area, but particularly one which proclaims itself to be the Home of the Paralympics.”