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Issue 1 November 2006 _____________________________________________________ Welcome to the first edition of the new Brecknock Access Newsletter. Since the publication of our access guide “Open for All”* earlier in the year the Access Group has been almost continuously in the news. Access issues in and around Brecknock have been featured in several issues of the Brecon and Radnor Express and on BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/mid/6100144.stm) So perhaps it is appropriate that we start telling our side of the story. *Contact the Access Office for your free copy of “Open for All” which is now available in large print, audio and Welsh versions. Licensing Laws We have encountered another obstacle on the road to getting the local authority licensing system reformed to incorporate accessibility to buildings. At our request MP Roger Williams wrote to the Minister for the Disabled, Anne McGuire, urging support for a revision of the Guidance Notes which currently do not allow accessibility to be taken into account when license applications are being considered. The Minister’s reply didn’t deal with the anomalies in the current Guidance which were pointed out to her, and simply repeated the standard Government view that disabled people can achieve access through the 1995 Disability Discrimination Act and not by other means. A reply is being drafted – this one will run and run !! Consultations On the subject of consultations [which are coming at us so fast we are in danger of being swamped] we have made our views known on three more important issues over the past few weeks. The Brecon Beacons National Park Authority now have formal replies to their request for observations on revisions to their Unitary Development Plan and also their draft Disability Equality Scheme. We have pointed out that their proposed UDP makes no mention of access to buildings or the environment or of the need for all new developments in the park area to conform to the principles of ‘inclusive design’. We say that these changes are necessary to stop the continued approval of inaccessible buildings. We have also made the point that changes are needed in the way that planning applications are dealt with. One important change would be to require all applications to be accompanied by an ‘access statement’ setting out how the applicant proposes to make the development accessible for all. We strongly support this in principle providing they are made obligatory, not optional, and that they should apply to all types of development. The Welsh Assembly Government have also been consulting on this proposal and we have made the same response to them. Partly as a result of these consultations the Group has produced two policy documents setting out our proposals for changes to the planning and licensing procedures so that access and disability equality become an integral part of those functions. If you would like a copy of either or both of these documents please contact Carol at our office for them to be sent to you. Meeting with Councillors At the end of September five members of the Group met most of the Powys County Councillors representing Brecknock wards. We were able to outline our main concerns about how the planning and licensing functions of the Council do not help the interests of disabled people working for greater access to buildings and services, and also about how the Disability Discrimination Act does not offer any realistic remedies against shops, pubs, restaurants etc that do not allow reasonable access. We hope that this meeting will be the first of many with County, Town and Community Councillors so that they can be made aware of the problems faced by disabled people. Millets Millets moved into their new store in Brecon in the High Street in October 2004. The new store had two steps to enter and we started discussions with the Property Director of the Millets Group who informed us that they would use the level entrance in Lion Street as another fully functioning entrance so people could choose to use the Lion Street entrance or the High Street entrance. However after two years had passed and our letters to Millets went unanswered, we wrote to them and said that we were prepared to hold a demonstration of wheelchair users outside the store to complain about the lack of access and the lack of action by the store. We received an email informing us that the Lion Street entrance had apparently been in use as a level entrance for 12 months. We were very surprised to hear this as there was nothing in the window of the store to inform people that there was a level entrance at the rear, and even if a wheelchair user went to the rear of the store, there was no signage to state which door belonged to Millets nor was there a bell to summon a member of staff to open the door. After further discussions with the Property Director, it has been agreed that Millets will identify the rear entrance with their corporate logo, provide a call point at the rear entrance and include signage at the front of the store indicating that level access is available at the rear. This is not the result we wanted, as the rear entrance would not be a fully functioning alternative entrance but only really for use by disabled people. However it is a much better alternative than not having access at all and we are pleased that Millets are to carry out the changes to make their store accessible.
Powys Disability Equality Scheme Following responses to the Powys County Council draft Disability Equality Scheme a revised version has now been agreed by the Review Panel. From the Access Group’s point of view it still does not commit the Council to do very much beyond proposing a schedule of discussions with council officers over the next year or so. The final draft has yet to be approved by senior officers and the Council’s Board before publication in December, and by full Council in January. This may result in the dilution of those issues that have been included as a result of our, and other disabled people’s, involvement. We will know by January. One proposal in the Draft Scheme is to create a database of disabled people in Powys willing to be involved in detailed discussions on all aspects of the Council’s services and treatment of disabled people. If you are not a member of the Group but would like to be included please speak to our Project Manager, Carol – contact details on the back page. Usk Riverside Walk Mr Peter Jones from Powys County Council (PCC) attended the Brecknock Access Group meeting on 27th September 2004. He brought and explained detailed plans for the then proposed riverside walk which was to run from The Captain’s Walk, along the riverside and terminate behind the Boar’s Head public house at the bottom of Ship Street. Although PCC had obtained funding for this project they were experiencing problems with the Environment Agency about the proposed plans. The Environment Agency had rejected plans for a ramp or lift at the end of the walk at Ship Street because of fear of flooding. Members pointed out at this meeting that flooding could occur whether there were steps or a ramp and the latter would probably provide much better drainage should the river levels raise. Unfortunately, the Environment Agency would not consider anything but the steps. Mr. Jones stated that wheelchair/disabled access would be closely looked at when phase 2 was to be planned and funding found. The walk was built during 2005 and is, in fact, very pleasant and wheelchair/disabled accessible as far as the bottom of Ship Street. Here wheelchair users have to turn around and return to The Captain’s Walk to be able to exit the pathway. Perhaps a sign could be erected by PCC at The Captain’s Walk to inform wheelchair users that there is no through access for them and save them considerable inconvenience.
We have now been informed that PCC have not been able to secure any further funding to enable phase 2 to go ahead. Hopefully Brecknock Access Group will soon be able to contact PCC and forward our concerns about complaints we have received and request that they, in turn communicate with the Environment Agency in the hope of rectifying this problem. David Summers Chairman, Brecon Sub Group Shopmobillity The Group Committee is making plans for the new year to commence discussions on setting up a Shopmobility in Brecon. We have agreed to seek support initially from town and county councillors before inviting other local voluntary organisations to become involved. Any member or supporter who has a particular interest in this and would like to become involved please let Carol know. The Message gets through! On 12th October a reporter from the Brecon and Radnor Express, Jess Childs met with Access Group members to experience first hand what it is like to negotiate the streets of Brecon as a disabled person. First she borrowed Alex Robinson’s wheelchair and tried to get along the pavements past A frames and goods displayed outside shops. As you can imagine, she also had to deal with narrow and uneven pavements, finding and negotiating dropped kerbs in order to cross the street, and forcing her way past or between other people on foot and in cars. Then Terry Ottewell provided her with black-out glasses and a white cane so that she could encounter the same obstacles as a blind person. Apart from being completely disoriented, she found that obstacles on the pavements, A frames and parked cars were a particular nuisance. On her way back to the office she noticed “an illegally parked lorry in a disabled parking bay, a second set of scaffolding with no pedestrian walkway around it and that the pavement didn’t have a dropped kerb anywhere. That was over just the first few hundred yards.” The full story appeared in the Brecon and Radnor Express for 19th October.
Training Days In September we had a very successful ‘training and information’ day in Brecon. Twenty members from all parts of the County, together with three members of the Caerphilly Access Group, had a relaxed and informal discussion about all aspects of our work and reviewed progress, or lack of it, on the major issues we have been campaigning on over the past year. It was agreed that we should organise two such events every year and invite members of other access groups in mid and south COME AND JOIN US Starting in 2007 the County Access Group will meet in Brecon on the last Wednesday of each month. NEXT MEETINGS: Friday 24 November 2006 and then Wednesday 31 January 2007 at the Subud Centre, The Watton, Brecon – 11am to 1pm. Meetings of the area SUB GROUPS are as follows…….. BRECON – the 2nd Wednesday in every month at the Brecon Leisure Centre at 10am – NEXT MEETING: 10th Jan 2007 HAY-ON-WYE – next meeting – Friday 17 November at the Parish Hall in Lion Street at 11am. YSTRADGYNLAIS – the 1st Wednesday in each month at the Miners Welfare Hall at 11am – NEXT MEETING – Wednesday 3 January 2007. To contact us for more details about these meetings and other activities please contact our Project Manager, Carol, on 01874 611401, or by email at brecknock.access@virgin.net, by post to Brecknock Access Group, New Wing, Brecon War Memorial Hospital, Cerrigcochion Road, Brecon, Powys LD3 7NS – or visit our website www.brecknockaccess.org.uk. LET US KNOW IF YOU WANT FUTURE NEWSLETTERS IN AUDIO OR OTHER FORMAT |
