High cost of disability access in suburb

It would cost more than $200,000 to make one of New Plymouth’s main suburbs completely accessible for those with disabilities, a new report has claimed.

The price was revealed by CCS Disability Action which, as part of its 80th birthday celebrations, offered the New Plymouth District Council a street audit for the Fitzroy suburb.

While the report identified a number of things the council was doing well to make the area accessible, it also identified ‘‘serious safety risks’’ which would cost $37,000 to remedy. These included installing full-length kerb ramps in a number of areas, upgrades to footpaths and the big ticket item of installing pedestrian platforms along Devon St East - which was estimated to cost $20,000 on its own.

Issues categorised as ‘‘significant concerns’’ would cost an estimated $85,000 to fix and works to address ‘‘minor concerns’’ would cost a further $105,000.

CCS Disability Action access and community development manager, Raewyn Hailes, said it wasn’t about asking councils to spend all the money at once.

‘‘In fact there are a lot of quick, no-cost fixes like talking with the rubbish companies to not drop skips off blocking footpaths, but of course there are some more expensive fixes as well.’’

Of the 91 recommendations in the report, 13 were in reference to issues with mobility parking,, while 24 were in reference to kerb crossings and tactile pavers.

At last night’s monitoring committee meeting, Lance GirlingButcher, chair of Positive Ageing Taranaki and member of the council’s Access Issues Working Party, said he would like to see council adopt a similar assessment throughout the city.

But Councillor Shaun Biesiek said there was no budget to implement any of the recommendations and council should be directing funds elsewhere.

Councillors Marie Pearce and Harry Duynhoven disagreed, saying the disabled community and the city’s ageing population would benefit greatly from council’s forward planning.