Report from the meeting of 29 November 2007
South Ayrshire Access Panel meets on the last Thursday in each month and tackles issues relating to making the environment, facilities and services in South Ayrshire available to all its residents.
Ongoing planning consultation considerations this month which have been agreed to include level access to units at Kildonan Estate, Barrhill and extra door width and ramp at premises at Oswald Road in Ayr. No reply has yet been received regarding door width space and level access to units at a farm in Crosshill, Maybole nor at premises at Somerset Road/Walker Road, Ayr and level access at Mossblown Club. New planning considerations this month include an access ramp at Craigie Mill, Symington, disabled access to premises at South Beach, Troon, a ramp at premises in Allan Place, Ayr and a hotel in Troon, door width space at units at a farm in Dunure and the provision of disabled parking spaces on the Esplanade in Ayr.
| Bookings for September 2007 | 261 |
| Bus | 112 |
| Registered users | 4520 |
The Shopmobility mobile unit has now been sold.
A Building Warrant application has been made by the Kyle Centre. The proposed works is to provide an external lift to the multi-storey carpark which will be large enough to carry wheelchairs making every floor accessible. The Panel wondered if disabled parking will be available on all floors. Shopmobility may have to relocate for the duration of this work.
Members of the Panel attended a recent Taxi Drivers Disability Awareness training course and felt that, on the whole, the course content was good and done in some depth.
A panel member, however, had been refused a hire with her electrical wheelchair and was advised to complain to the Licencing Stamdards Officer of South Ayrshire Council. According to this office (in a letter to a Panel member), taxis should be pciking up people in wheelchairs.
In order to demonstrate the problems experienced by disabled people, especially those with visual impairment, the Panel asked Blair Wyllie from the Traffic Section to meet for a site visit with Panel members. They felt very positive about it, feeling that he had listened to the suggestions and taken their concerns on board.
It is hoped that remedial work to the footpath at Newton Shore will be completed soon.
At a recent meeting with the Planning Manager of South Ayrshire Council, Panel members requested that Planning advise us as early as possible of large-scale development to allow more time for the plans to be scrutinised. The Panel also requested that Planning should ask architects for an Access Statement to accompany all large-scale plans since this would help us to establish that access issues had been addressed. It was suggested that Planning staff could receivve disability awareness training. This will be considered.
At the SDEF meeting in November, participants were assured that disability issues would not be watered down by the new joint commission and the work of Access Panels in making the built environment, goods and service assessable to all was commended.
The SDEF Convener informed the meeting that they now have 30 access auditors in Scotland courtesy of the university course run by the SDEF, there were only 6 prior to this. SDEF are doing what they can to get further funding for Access Panels and also hoping to get Panels recognised as statutory bodies.
Reports from previous meetings - November 2005 onwards - can be found in the News archive.