Dear Ms Salisbury

Environmental Information Regulations request: EIR-71493

Thank you for your request dated 01 February 2023

Your request will be answered by 01 March 2023.

If you have any queries about this request, please contact me, quoting the reference number above.

Yours sincerely,

David White
Head of Information, Safety and Community Services
Directorate of Communities, Environment and Central
Royal Borough of Greenwich

 3rd Floor, The Woolwich Centre, 35 Wellington Street, London, SE18 6HQ
www.royalgreenwich.gov.uk

 Please consider the environment before printing this email

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Dear Ms Salisbury

Environmental Information Regulations request:  EIR-71493

Thank you for your request dated 01 February 2023.

Our response is as follows:

Thank you for your environmental information request dated 31 January 2023
regarding a newly-installed motor-cycle deterrent barrier on [1]the
footpath that links Tunnel Avenue to the Thames Path. The need for
measures to deter motorcycles using this path arose from complaints
throughout 2022 of people on motorbikes using the path to ride recklessly
and dangerously on [2]the large tarmac open space alongside the Golf Range

Our policy is every footpath should comply with the Department for
Transport’s 2021 best practice document, [3]“Inclusive Mobility; A Guide
to Best Practice on Access to Pedestrian and Transport Infrastructure”

You have asked for all recorded information relating to any consideration
given to the impact of these barriers to the access of disabled people to
this section of the Thames Path. You asked that this include, but not be
limited to: emails, telephone notes, meeting agendas and minutes,
consultations and consultation responses and equality impact assessments.
I must advise that the council does not hold any documents that match this
description. This is because we have installed a standard [4]K Barrier
that is designed to allow wheelchairs, mobility scooters and people on
crutches to pass through the barrier. Although there is no right of way
for cycles along this path, standard bicycles can also be manouevered
through the barrier.

We tested the effect that these barriers have on people who use mobility
aids when we replaced “kissing gates” with [5]similar barriers on the
Ridgeway in Plumstead in 2015. User groups representing people who use
mobility aids were invited to trial the new access control and give
feedback on the ease with which they were able pass. The dimensions and
aperture of the barrier at the Tunnel Avenue footpath matches those which
we found worked to everyone’s satisfaction at The Ridgeway. Our 6-year
record-retention policy means that our files do not contain the detail of
that feedback. Conscious that designs of mobility vehicles may have
changed in the last eight years, if you find that you are unable to pass
through the new barrier, please email the model of vehicle that you use to
[6][email address] and we will work with the
manufacturer at how the aperture can be adjusted to enable you to pass.

If you have any queries about this correspondence, please contact me,
quoting the reference number above.

If you are not satisfied with our response to your request, you can ask
for an Internal Review.  Internal review requests must be submitted within
two months of the date of receipt of the response to your original
request.  If you wish to do this, please contact us in writing, setting
out why you are dissatisfied.

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the Internal Review, you may
apply directly to the Information Commissioner (ICO) for a decision. 
Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the
Internal Review procedure provided by the Council. You can contact the ICO
by emailing [7][email address], or by post at Customer Contact,
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
SK9 5AF.

Yours sincerely,

David White

Head of Information, Safety and Community Services

Directorate of Communities and Environment

Royal Borough of Greenwich

*   3^rd Floor, The Woolwich Centre, 35 Wellington Street, London, SE18
6HQ

8 [8]www.royalgreenwich.gov.uk

ü Please consider the environment before printing this email

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