Kerb appeal. It’s a phrase you hear a lot, especially on TV’s Location, Location, Location.

Well in my never-ending house hunt, I spent a lunchtime last week flitting around the streets between Cowley and Iffley roads with a letting agent. You might think I am referring to the cute Victorian terraces but alas no.

I had one hour to view four properties; I was expecting there to be a few glitches with the properties but my biggest hurdle was trying to get to them – specifically the kerbs and pavements.

As a current Headington resident I am used to the broad pavements of London Road and the suburban side streets designed in the 1930s for family living.

The Cowley Road area is a totally different story – it would appear that drop kerbs are absent when you need them and abundant when you don’t.

For a wheelchair user I need a drop kerb when crossing roads – that’s it. Not too much to ask you’d think.

Weirdly the pavements are not without drop kerbs but they seem sporadic, misplaced and given the narrow pavements they turn a pavement into a hazardous slope impossible to push over.

Imagine you were driving down a motorway and suddenly it tilts from horizontal to 45 degrees and then back again... You get the idea.

Despite being strong I can’t push against that slope so my wheelchair is veering all over the place.

Indeed, trying to stay on the pavement and avoid the cars and perilous kerbs doesn’t make for a fun journey. For white-knuckle driving I think I’ll stick to Mario Kart.

The whole situation is exacerbated by the parking woes of that area.

People park on the kerb – in fact the parking bays are even painted halfway across the kerb.

I know the council is facing cuts but seriously? It’s bonkers! Either a pavement is for cars or for people.

Anyway. This forces me onto the road. The only level surface left. For anyone who knows this area there is barely space for cars, so a lone wheelchair user clogging up the roads and unable to get off the road and onto the pavements means hassle for everyone.

So now that I have had my whinge I will get to the point. Quite simply, before I can even find a house that works for me; I need to find a pavement that works for me.

In a city like Oxford this means that swathes of Oxford are essentially off-limits – a kind of able-bodied ghetto.

Kirstie and Phil are right about Location, Location, Location, but they could do with a lesson in kerb appeal too...