Thames Path 'modal filters' by golf range, equalities impact assessment
Dear Greenwich Borough Council,
I recently learned from the twitter feed of your Councillor David Gardener (source: https://twitter.com/David_Llew/status/16...) that the Council has installed large steel barriers which will clearly make wheelchair access, and other mobility aid use, more difficult if not impossible on this estate.
I write to request the equalities impact assessment conducted prior to signing off this design, assuming such a one was conducted, in accordance with what is widely accepted as best practice in order to prevent disadvantaging or otherwise unlawfully discriminating against disabled people.
Yours faithfully,
Calum Rogers
Hackney, London
Dear Mr Rogers
Freedom of Information request: FOI-71491
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
Dear David,
I use Mx not Mr - please amend the systems used to draft these messages so you don't use a wrong, gendered honorific.
Yours sincerely,
Calum
Thank you for letting us know, your title has been amended on our system.
Kind regards,
FOI Team
Dear Mr Rogers
Freedom of Information request: FOI-71491
Thank you for your request dated 31 January 2023.
Our response is as follows:
Our objective is that all our paths shall comply with the Department for
Transport’s 2021 best practice document, [1]“Inclusive Mobility; A Guide
to Best Practice on Access to Pedestrian and Transport Infrastructure”
The council did not carry out a equality impact assessment specific to the
installation of the motor-cycle deterrent barrier on [2]the footpath that
links Tunnel Avenue to the Thames Path. This is because we have installed
a standard [3]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
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 [4]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. Nonetheless,
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
[5][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 [6][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 [7]www.royalgreenwich.gov.uk
ü Please consider the environment before printing this email
Thank you for responding to the request.
Better luck next time with my honorifics though.
Best
Mx Rogers.
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