SHOPS could have to apply for licences to put A-boards on public pavements, under new plans being considered by Bradford Council.

It is one of four options being suggested by the authority, after disability groups said the boards posed a safety risk for blind people.

But the idea has alarmed the Bradford Chamber of Trade, which said a licence system would in effect penalise those who stick to the rules.

Chamber of Trade secretary Val Summerscales said: "We wouldn't in any way, shape or form support a licensing policy where shops have to pay to display A-boards."

Currently, Bradford Council provides guidance to cafes and shops on making sure their advertising A-boards are not posing a hazard to blind or disabled people on pavements.

Traders who fail to stick to these rules can have their boards seized, but there is currently only one officer employed to police the rules.

The Bradford and District Disabled People's Forum was one of the groups campaigning for a tougher stance to be taken, with blind and partially sighted people saying there were still too many hazardous boards to negotiate.

Now the Council is considering four options: keeping the current approach, taking traders who flout the rules to court, employing more enforcement officers or introducing a licensing system.

Councillor Val Slater, Bradford Council's executive member for planning, said: "It's about finding a practical solution, because there is a strong feeling that things have slipped."

Emmerson Walgrove, of the Bradford and District Disabled People's Forum, said he was in favour of any option apart from the one to keep things as they are.

He said he particularly liked the sound of a licensing system, but said this would only work alongside a boost in enforcement.

He said: "You can't have a policy if you are not going to enforce it."

Mrs Summerscales said she strongly sympathised with the difficulties faced by blind and disabled people. She called for a "common-sense approach" which targeted traders who didn't follow the Council's rules.

She said: "From our point of view, we see advertising boards as a way of promoting a business, and in difficult economic times it is essential that they are able to do that, but it has to be responsible and it doesn't have to be somewhere that is dangerous."

The four options will be discussed by the Council's Executive when it meets on Thursday, October 16.