Tracey Proudlock has been trying for more than three months to discuss her concerns with Portas, but has so far had no response.

Last year, the government chose 27 English towns to take part in pilot projects aimed at transforming their high street, the first recommendation taken up from an independent review of the high street’s future, carried out by the retail expert.

But the Portas review failed to make a single mention of disabled people in its 47 pages, although there was a brief reference to the need for older people to have “the same great access to high streets that they have to out-of-town centres”, in a section in which she called for high streets to be “accessible, attractive and safe”.

Proudlock said she fears the review’s focus on deregulation and “freeing up red tape”, and making life easier for retailers, has filtered through to local authorities, who now shy away from telling high street businesses to improve access.

Proudlock, a wheelchair-user, last year asked four retailers near her home in Muswell Hill, north London, to remove a step at the front of their premises while builders carried out “high value work” inside.

All four refused to remove the step, she said, while her local council failed to force the shops to do so as a condition of their planning applications.

Proudlock first wrote to Portas on 12 October last year, telling her how her local Liberal Democrat councillor had said that Haringey council – which is Labour-controlled – “did not want to burden retailers” and so would not campaign with her to remove steps from her high street, because of the Portas review.

She has now written two letters – sent by registered post – to Portas’s office, and made follow-up calls and sent emails.

Proudlock, a member of the government’s own Equality 2025 advisory network of disabled people, but speaking in a personal capacity, said: “I was trying to change things where I live, but Portas was quoted as the reason why it wouldn’t happen.”

Portas has so far been unavailable to comment.

A spokeswoman for the Department for Communities and Local Government said it was “committed to supporting the high street so it’s a place for everyone to enjoy”, which was why it had already implemented “virtually all” of the Portas recommendations, doubled small business rate relief for new and smaller shops and “outlined new proposals tore-activate empty shops”.

She said local businesses must comply with the Equality Act and building regulations, but added: “We actively promote good design which is crucial to improving the high street and would urge local authorities to look at locally imposed red tape and byelaws that may have an adverse affect on the high street.”

But when Disability News Service asked whether the government believed the Portas review had made it more difficult to improve access on the high street, she declined to comment further.

Haringey council has so far been unable to comment.

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

The government announced last week that 36 of the 54 Remploy factories across the UK would close by the end of 2012, with the loss of more than 1,500 disabled people’s jobs, while there would be further consultation over the future of the other 18 factories.

Stephen Lloyd, the Liberal Democrat MP for Eastbourne, told Disability News Service this week that he supported the coalition’s decision.

The former disability consultant said those disabled people who were losing their jobs would understandably be “very angry and upset by what’s happened”, but he added: “The old-fashioned, paternalistic, institutionalised approach of Remploy has no place in the modern world.”

He said his support for the decision depended on the government meeting its pledge that “every penny saved will go into helping more disabled people into [mainstream] jobs”, with “significant levels of support” to help former Remploy workers into mainstream work, and “generous” packages for those for whom this was not possible.

He said it was “not realistic” to expect all former Remploy workers to find mainstream work, but he was “very, very hopeful” that more would be found work than happened with those who lost their jobs after the closure of Remploy factories by the last Labour government.

He said: “Having been involved in disability equality for over 20 years I have always been passionate about ensuring more disabled people are in mainstream employment.

“Disability equality, respect and opportunity for disabled people is one of the things that brought me back into politics.

“In their heart of hearts, people who actually understand this subject know that this decision by the government is correct.”

But he added: “If I get a sniff that this is part of a Treasury-driven initiative and the money [from the Remploy closures] goes back to the Treasury, I will publicly fight it tooth and nail.”

Tracey Proudlock, a leading disabled access and disability consultant, said she believed that about a third of Remploy’s employees would find sustainable, worthwhile jobs through Work Choice, the government’s scheme for supporting disabled people into employment.

Proudlock said she expected the other two-thirds would either resist the idea of a new career in mainstream employment, possibly because they were close to retirement, or would find it impossible to find jobs.

Her experience of supporting disabled people into mainstream employment from a sheltered workshop run by a London local authority in the early 1990s has convinced her that many ex-Remploy workers will be successful in finding work, if given the right support.

She said: “I think these people leaving Remploy will probably need high levels of support for an appreciable period of time. It is not a temporary thing.

“Finding them mainstream work will be complex, but very, very worthwhile, because some of them will come away with meaningful, inclusive work.”

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com