a) Margaret Lewis asks the following questions:
“The evidence is clear that LCC has presided over a marked reduction in disabled access & design expertise over the past three years. First, with the loss of the Disability Discrimination act post, then with the shelving of the Leicester Designs Standards Document (LIDs) and finally the loss of the Disabled Access Officer role, who had a key role in involving disabled people via the Disabled peoples Access group, in decision making.
How do you plan to replace this expertise? What are the milestones and timescales?
How are you planning to involve disabled people formally in the formative stages of street and building design? What are the milestones and timescales?”
b) The Monitoring Officer to report on any further Questions, Representations and Statements of Case received in accordance with Council procedures.
Minutes:
Margaret Lewis asked the following question:
“The evidence is clear that LCC has presided over a marked reduction in disabled access & design expertise over the past three years. First, with the loss of the Disability Discrimination act post, then with the shelving of the Leicester Designs Standards Document (LIDs) and finally the loss of the Disabled Access Officer role, who had a key role in involving disabled people via the Disabled peoples Access group, in decision making.
How do you plan to replace this expertise? What are the milestones and timescales?
How are you planning to involve disabled people formally in the formative stages of street and building design? What are the milestones and timescales?”
In response, the City Mayor noted that Leicester City Council had been one of the first authorities to employ an Access Officer. Much progress had been made since then, giving the Council a good understanding of how to engage with those representing disabled people and their needs. However, various speciality posts had been lost in the Council, including this one, due to the Council’s financial situation. Despite this, officers working in the Planning, Development and Transportation service had developed considerable expertise in these areas.
The Director of Planning, Development and Transportation assured Ms Lewis that the Council continued to invest considerable resources into accessibility and still was committed to inclusive design, aiming to deliver schemes to the highest standards possible. A considerable knowledge base had been developed over a number of years, which also helped to avoid over-reliance on an individual officer.
One way in which this was evidenced, was in the Council’s published street design guide. The street assessment tool contained in the design guide was now used routinely. However, the Council also used a lot of external knowledge to help achieve the desired standards of provision. Groups representing disabled people had been engaged in the preparation of the document. It was intended that the design guide would be kept under live review for at least a year, to make sure that it was suitable for its intended purpose.
Groups representing disabled people were routinely consulted through the Disability Access Group. It had not been possible for this Group to meet since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, but the Council wanted these meetings to resume once schemes were being developed again, as this was an important avenue of consultation.
A number of schemes were being developed and these were discussed with the Group at various stages of development. In addition, when schemes were implemented, they were reported to the Group, to assess how the schemes were working and help identify any problems. Recently, the Council had invested very heavily in extensive street improvements and had engaged with access groups during this.
At the invitation of the Chair, Margaret Lewis asked a supplementary question, expressing her appreciation of officers’ expertise regarding streets, but noting that she understood that LIDs included building design and asking why this had not been implemented in the city.
In reply, the Director of Planning, Development and Transportation explained that the principles had been used to inform access to buildings. However, the Council also used work by other organisations, (such as Transport for London), to achieve the best possible results. This had been discussed with other officers and the Director was reassured that the necessary expertise was available in the Council, but external expertise also was used when needed.
During discussion on these questions, it was suggested that easily accessible on-street parking should be made available for people with mobility issues. Some of this could include parking with electric charging points, in view of the increasing number of people driving electric vehicles.
The Director of Planning, Development and Transportation advised that recent studies showed a good provision of on-street and off-street parking for disabled people in the city, but the Council needed to think creatively about how it could enable people to get around the city centre. For example, one option being considered was an electric shuttle service.
AGREED:
That, when it was possible to hold face-to-face meetings, the Director of Planning, Development and Transportation be asked to arrange for further discussion on the points recorded above to be held between the Chair of this Commission, relevant officers and the questioner, (Margaret Lewis).