A policy to keep the district’s pavements clutter-free needs to be properly enforced to protect residents with mobility difficulties, say councillors.

Disabilities and mobility groups have been lobbying Bradford Council to get tough on businesses whose on-street advertisements and displays cause problems for wheelchair users, the visually-impaired and elderly residents.

Five years ago, a policy was drawn up to restrict shops from displaying more than one A-board outside their premises, but attempts to enforce the rules since have proved largely unsuccessful.

A petition calling for the issue to be urgently revisited was presented to a meeting of full Council by the Mobility Planning Group and the Bradford District Disabled People’s Forum last January, and this week a new draft policy was discussed by the Council’s environment and waste management scrutiny committee.

The draft policy suggests a pavement should be 2.4m wide before an A-board is allowed, and 2.8m before any shop pavement display is permitted. This would ensure a minimum pavement width of 1.8m is available to pedestrians.

But the scrutiny committee’s chairman, Councillor Michael McCabe (Con, Thornton and Allerton), said members had recommended the Council’s executive holds off on introducing fresh restrictions.

He said: “Committee members were concerned that this was just going to focus on the city centre. There are big issues all around the district and we wanted to see the proper enforcement of the current policy, which we felt should involve the amalgamation of the uniformed services.”

Paul Anderson, a wheelchair user and a committee member of the Bradford District Disabled People’s Forum, insisted the committee’s recommendations were a backwards step.

He said: “It’s very disappointing. It has taken a long time to get a response back and we saw this new policy as a move forwards.”

Enforcement of the current policy began in 2007, but despite written requests, some have failed to adhere to the restrictions and a test case was prepared to prosecute the most prolific offender.

The matter was settled outside court when a “caution” document was signed by the offender.

Asad Akram, 38, of Heaton, who is visually-impaired, said: “I understand businesses need to promote themselves, but it has to be done in a considered manner.

“If the entrance to a shop is cluttered with obstructions, I just won’t go there to spend my money.”