Forum Topic

Disabled people left angry and ignored by council road closures, report finds

Just days after High Court judge rules London road closures ignored disabled views, a new report reveals nationwide extent of concerns.Three in four disabled people feel “angry and ignored” because they were not properly consulted before roads were closed and pop-up cycle lanes introduced as part of Grant Shapps’s “green transport revolution”, a report has found.Transport for All has published the first ever analysis of the effects ‘Low Traffic Neighbourhoods’ (LTNs) have had on people with disabilities.Researchers found 72 per cent of those questioned were critical of the way LTNs were introduced and the way they were informed by town hall bosses about them.The report, called Pave the Way published this month, found 77 per cent believe their journey times or those of their carers had in fact increased because of LTNs.The dossier comes just days after a High Court judge ruled the London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, failed to properly take into account how road closures and banning taxis from some routes would affect disabled people, despite their rights being protected under the Equality Act.https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/01/30/disabled-people-left-angry-ignored-council-road-closures-report/

Leslie Wilson ● 2096d4 Comments

Beware the word 'consultation' when being uttered by our local uberlords.

Keith Iddon ● 2096d

I thought the timing of this report was interesting.  It is not that long ago (I wish I could remember exactly) since I was desperately looking for a charity that covered disabled travel.  It may have been when there was a group of disabled passengers trying to get a train company to keep the guard on trains - or when I was filling in a consultation on Ealing Broadway station re its lack of accessibility.  A couple of days ago when I looked at this website it was totally updated.  I wondered where the sudden funding had come from and why now?There used to be a very good website - a sibling of www.fixmystreet.com - called www.fixmytravel.com which was very useful for commenting on travel routes where suggestions could be made and other travellers could comment and make their suggestions depending on the routes that they were taking to get somewhere or trying to take to get somewhere.It would be good if this charity was always there and able to help those who have difficulty travelling.

Philippa Bond ● 2096d

Hounslow made their own one so they could ignore any tricky requests https://fms.hounslowhighways.org/

Russell Pearson ● 2096d

I don't believe you can see other people's comments on Hounslow's version can you?  The same reason why LBE decided they were going to use another system.  We could all tell which buildings has repeated problems and where the landlord was not managing a property properly.I had a fall in Oxford and discovered when I came to report the rocking paving stone that I had tripped on that there was already another report there.  That was as well as the pancake vendor saying that I was the third person to have tripped right there that day.  It has taken four YEARS to recover.  The pavement had been left badly reinstated after building works ie it wasn't caused by traffic travelling over the pavement which is often the case.

Philippa Bond ● 2096d