Going around in circles
Council proposals do not fit the bill
FOLLOWING PROTESTS by disabled driver, Hugh Munro, Edinburgh council has redesigned the arrangements for blue badge parking at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh which it plans to install in January.
The latest design, chosen from four possibilities created by roads officers, increases the number of blue badge spaces to 13 by creating four new parking spaces within the semi-circular areas on both sides of the road at the John Hope Gateway. These deeper bays will be set 4.5 metres back from the road to create a safe space to get in and out of vehicles. The council says it will offer new protected spaces for disabled people at ground level, but Mr Munro says these new arrangements are “nothing new” and wholly unsuitable.
Mr Munro said: “This still does not consider that the disabled person might be the driver. Even if these are deeper bays, the driver still has to exit on the main road and in my case with sticks I have to get round the door to get on to the pavement. The only safe way if the council really value disabled people or the vulnerable. “I feel that the council is not listening and have made no changes and I am still in the position as a disabled driver that I cannot access the Botanics.”