224 Facilities for Disabled People

1. The following notice of motion by Councillor W. H. Wheeler was referred to the Leader by the County Council at its meeting on 20 February 2003

"1. This Council will enable people with any disability to engage actively

in its Council related business. This to be in line with the Disability

Discrimination Act 1996, and in any case to be implemented by

January 2004.

By this dateline this Council will either be fully accessible by use of

ramps, lifts, hearing loops etc, or in the case of buildings unable to be

converted, meetings will be relocated so that they will be fully

accessible for people with disabilities.

2. That an Access Sub-Committee of the Buildings, Land and Contracts

Panel be formed which would include Councillors and representatives

of disabled organisations with the express intention of auditing all our

buildings and reporting back to the Buildings, Land and Contracts

Panel at regular intervals."

2. Before responding the Leader asked that the views of this Panel be

sought and those of any other member of the Council. All members of

the Council have, accordingly, been invited to the meeting.

3. In relation to the first part of the notice of motion, the County Council has been working towards compliance with the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) since 1997 with the implementation of a range of specific initiatives. The next key deadline is 1 October 2004 when the Code of Practice relating to Part III of the DDA states that where a physical feature makes it impossible or unreasonably difficult for disabled people to make use of services, a service provider will have to take reasonable steps to:

· Remove the feature: or


· Alter it so that it no longer has that effect: or

· Provide a reasonable means of avoiding it; or


· Provide a reasonable alternative method of making the service

available.

4. The Code of Practice also suggests that service providers will be less likely to have been found discriminating if they have undertaken access audits, identified barriers and have a planned approach to overcoming these barriers. The County Council is approaching this through a DDA Access Audit and Improvement Strategy which is in three phases. Phase 1 includes all buildings open to the public eg, museums, libraries, HQ offices, Register Offices etc. This equates to around 150 buildings, all of which will be audited by the end of 2003. The Director of Property, Business and Regulatory Services has established a dedicated team to drive this strategy.

5. By October 2004 the Council will be able to demonstrate that:

· All Phase 1 buildings have been audited


· 40% highest priority services have been given precedence in terms of

making adaptations


· audits have been run alongside improvement projects to demonstrate

tangible changes


· buildings which have not undergone the necessary physical changes

will be programmed into a rolling programme of phased improvements and management systems will be in place to make alternative arrangements where barriers exist.

6. Work has already been implemented in a number of buildings as part of an overall programme in response to specific needs of staff, members of the public and elected members. Management solutions to potential barriers have also been established and the relocation of meetings to accessible venues is an example of this. All departments are being encouraged to identify access requirements and select appropriate venues as necessary.

7. It should be noted that it will not be `reasonable' to remove all barriers due to conflicting legal requirements under the Health and Safety at Work Act and the Historic Buildings Act.

8. In relation to the second part of the notice of motion, to date the Executive Member for Policy and Resources has received progress reports on the DDA every six months. In future it is intended to share these reports with the Buildings, Land and Contracts Panel prior to a decision by the Leader. Regular reports are also shared with the Executive Member for Personnel and Training whose brief includes equalities which embraces the DDA.

9. It is considered that the new Buildings, Land and Contracts Panel is already best placed to advise the Leader of the Council on access issues but that there could be advantage in setting up, for review in 2004, a member/officer working party to look at appropriate issues in more detail with representatives from disability groups and organisations. The Leader recommends accordingly.

RECOMMENDATION:

1. To endorse the action being taken in response to the Disability Discrimination Act 1996 and to establish a Member/Officer Working Party comprising 1 Conservative, 1 Liberal Democrat, 1 Labour member plus appropriate officers, to report twice yearly to the Buildings, Land and Contracts Panel, Councillor W. H. Wheeler to be appointed Chairman of the Working Party

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background papers

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

NB the list excludes

1 Published works.

2 Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.

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