Dear Ms Link

Environmental Information Regulations request: EIR-71476

Thank you for your request dated 31 January 2023

Your request will be answered by 28 February 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 Link

Environmental Information Regulations request:  EIR-71476

Thank you for your request dated 31 January 2023.

Our response is as follows:

You have installed new barriers at the beginning of the footpath to the
Thames Path near the Blackwall tunnel.

Q1. Could you please send me the measurements of this barrier (width,
height, maximum width able to pass)?

Maximum width = 971mm, Height = 1620mm

Q2. As this new barrier is likely to block access for wheelchair and
mobility scooter users, could you please send me the Equality Impact
Assessment for this installation?

I must advise that the council does not hold any documents that match this
description. This is because we have installed a standard 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, most standard bicycles can also be manoeuvred through the
barrier. This footpath continues to comply with the Department for
Transport’s 2021 best practice document, “Inclusive Mobility; A Guide to
Best Practice on Access to Pedestrian and Transport Infrastructure”

We tested the effect that these barriers have on people who use mobility
aids when we replaced “kissing gates” with 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 have been designed
to match 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 [1][email address] and we will
work with the manufacturer at how the aperture can be adjusted to enable
you to pass.

Q3. Could you also send me any relevant documents where I can see what
your decision-making process was regarding the public sector equality
duty?

Please refer to answer above

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 [2][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, Environment and Central

Royal Borough of Greenwich

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

8 [3]www.royalgreenwich.gov.uk

ü Please consider the environment before printing this email

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