Report from the meeting of 25 October 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 include disabled toilets in a car show room and residential home in Ayr, disabled parking at Aviation House at Glasgow Prestwick Airport, a caravan park at Turnberry, entrance door width at premises in Girvan, entrance doors to a farm at Crosshill (Maybole), entrance doors and level access to residential accomodation in Ayr , disabled access ramp to a cafe in Ayr and disabled parking spaces at Ailsa Hospital. New planning applications include level access to a Unit on Ayr Esplanade, level access to public toilet kiosk at South Beach, Troon,and ramps at units in Barrhill, Ayr and Mossblown.
With regard to Ayr Central Development, a Paenl member met the new man in charge who seems willing to work with the Panel to resolve some of the issues. The slabs at the Kyle Street end are now satisfactory and tactile studs have been placed around the seating area, so progress is being made.
Regarding the Ayr - Dundolnald bus route, Stagecoach now have the funding to make these busses fully accesable to disabled people.
A Panel member has approached the RNIB in the hope of reducing the hire charge for the audio headphones needed for audio description of some films at the Odoen Cinema in Ayr. It was also noted that the Cinema is not being kept very clean, which can cause problems with sticky floors and food lying around - a nuisance for guide dog owners especially.
Councillor Connelly requested that any documentation that the Panel are sending out,could a copy be sent to him to keep him up to date with panel business.
A company by the name of Infopoint is providing free telephone units for hospitals. The units are to be fitted in public areas and their main use is for the public to contact transport providers. There are three types of units available depending on the number of call buttons required and the hospital selects the type of unit which best suits their needs. The installation and maintenance of the units is free and is paid for by a contract between Infopoint and the transport providers. Infopoint reserve at least two of the call buttons for this purpose; the remaining call buttons being connected as required by the hospital. The Panel was consulted by Crosshouse Hospital to ensure that the positioning and physical features of the units would be appropriate for use by disabled and visually/hearing impaired people.
Reports from previous meetings - November 2005 onwards - can be found in the News archive.