PLANS to make Bristol better for disabled people have been criticised for failing to consider those who have no choice but to use the car.
Councillors voted unanimously by 57-0 last October for a motion to improve how accessible the city is.
A meeting of full council was told disabled people faced barriers getting around. Many of the suggestions focused on transport, such as exploring whether to extend the Diamond bus pass, valid only from 9am, to 24 hours and investigating whether to allow disabled drivers through bus gates.
Bristol City Council’s transport and connectivity committee is doing this work, but an update on the broader policies, including giving people with disabilities more of a say in the authority’s decisions, was given to the strategy and resources committee on April 14.
The progress so far was criticised by Cllr John Goulandris (Conservative, Stoke Bishop) for excluding the needs of disabled motorists.
He told the meeting: “It was a great motion and if we could achieve it, we would all be very happy. “But unfortunately there are lots of complications, partly funding, partly also that trying to achieve full access to some groups will actually clank against some policies we have because the harsh reality is that a large number of disabled and very elderly people rely on one mode of transport that is not very popular at the moment and that’s the motor car. I see very little provision for disabled and elderly people using their motor cars with blue badges.”
Cllr Goulandris said plans announced by the Green-led council in January to close Park Street to through-traffic and install a bus gate at the top and a bus lane at the bottom should be reconsidered.
He said: “If we were truly keen to make Bristol an accessible city, we would have to make an exception for the seriously disabled.
Cllr Ani Stafford-Townsend (Green, Central) said people with physical disabilities were currently at risk from air pollution, so the proposed Park Street changes were welcome, and that it would be easier for those who did need to drive to get around because there would be fewer motorists.
Bristol Disability Equality Commission chair Alun Davies said in a statement he warmly welcomed both the motion being passed unanimously in October and the update report on implementing it.
He said: “Whilst we recognise there are still significant challenges in embedding disability equality across the council, we feel the options in the report are a positive step forward.”
Council leader and committee chair Cllr Tony Dyer (Green, Southville) said he was meeting not only with the commission but other disability groups on how to improve accessibility.
He said: “We need to recognise that the disabled community in Bristol is not one community, so we need to look at different organisations that represent different parts of those communities and also recognise the fact they will be in conflict with each other. We need to see tangible improvements because for a long time we’ve had a lot of talk about this and we haven’t necessarily seen the improvements in action.
Opponents of the East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood criticised the report at the meeting, saying their area was now less accessible than before.
By Adam Postans, Local Democracy Reporting Service