Newcastle City Council has agreed to move a set of barriers after a disabled cyclist raised concerns that the design constituted indirect discrimination as it blocked his access to a cycle path.
Alastair Fulcher wrote a 'letter before claim' to the council arguing that the installation of the barriers put the council in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), the Human Rights Act 1998, the Equality Act 2010 and planning guidance of local authorities.
Mr Fulcher, who lives with Parkinson's disease, said he could not access the cycle path as he could not manoeuvre his recumbent tricycle, a two-metre cycle commonly used by disabled people, through the barriers.
In 2023 Urban Green Newcastle installed the barriers at the East and West side of the cycle path at Pottery Bank (known as National Cycle Network Route 72 (NCN Route 72). A second barrier was installed despite a complaint by Alastair regarding the first.
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