DISABILITY campaigners whooped and cheered on Tuesday evening as Bradford councillors voted to ban A-boards from public pavements across the district, marking a victory in their years-long campaign.

The Council’s Executive had earlier this year opted against a ban, but the Health and Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee had then taken the extremely rare step of quashing the decision and asking the Full Council to vote on the matter instead.

Council leader Susan Hinchcliffe said her Executive’s original plan, to ask businesses to buy a licence for A-boards, had been their attempt at a compromise between disability campaigners and traders, but that they had come up with a “solution that didn’t please either party”.

Maqsood Sheikh, regional campaigns officer for the Royal National Institute of Blind People, welcomed the decision. He said: “I think it shows Bradford Council is leading the way in removing obstacles not just for blind people but for people with disabilities.”

However, traders have reacted with disappointment. Helen Rhodes, who chairs Ilkley Business Forum, said A-boards helped to attract customers into shops and a ban would hit trade.

She said: "There's quite a high turnover of businesses on Ilkley high street. There's quite a few people hanging on by the skin of their teeth so it will be interesting to see what happens."

Opposition councillors called on the authority to do more to help businesses whose trade could be hit by the decision. Councillor Anne Hawkesworth (Ind, Ilkley) said: "There appears to be no acceptance by the controlling group that different things apply in different areas.

"I had hoped there will be some room for manoeuvre allowing combined multi-business boards in certain areas where they don't produce obstructions.

"Carefully sited combined boards would not cause problem for disabled."