Report from the meeting of 29 March 2007
South Ayrshire Access Panel meets on the last Thursday in each month and tackles issues relating to making the South Ayrshire environment, facilities and services available to all its residents.
The Panel were informed that there would be a Scottish Parliamentary Awareness Seminar, designed specifically to inform Access Panels, held in Burns House on 12th April. It was hoped that turnout would be good for this event. The seminar is intended to make Access Panels aware of how Parliament functions and how Access Panels can influence the debate.
Planning consultations under discussion by the Panel this month included Asda store in Girvan, a leisure park in Maybole, a drop in centre in Ayr, a temporary toilet block at a Primary School and a number of commercial and private premises in Ayr, Troon and Prestwick.
The Panel heard that the Shopmobility scheme had survived its critical AGM and had sufficient committee members now to function for another year.
It was reported that 1500 Access Guides for Prestwick and Troon and 1000 Guides for Maybole and Girvan have now been printed and will be officially launched in May. It was noted that this had been achieved well ahead of schedule and mainly due to the efforts of one Panel member. A promotion for the Ayr Access Guide is planned for March 30th in the Kyle Centre, both morning and afternoon.
The Panel continues to be involved in discussion with the developer of the Ayr Central Shopping Development. It was brought to the attention of the Panel that a pedestrian crossing was now under construction in Smith Street.
Access Panel involvement is also continuing in relation to a bank premises in Prestwick, the Taxi Driver Awareness Training scheme and a pavement problem at the Biggart Hospital, adult changing facilities in public toilets and disabled parking bays at a Maybole supermarket.
A newer matter on the Access Panel agenda is the availability of disabled accessible toilets in pubs, bars and restaurants. The Licensing Monitoring Officer had replied to an enquiry, saying that the Licensing authority has no power to insist that pubs have accessible WCs. It was suggested that this matter be taken up as a request to individual establishments.
Reports from previous meetings - November 2005 onwards - can be found in the News archive.