Closed
New diagonal crossing by the NatWest bank to the estate agents at the end of west street
Sent to Central Bedfordshire Council less than a minute later. Council ref: 372236.
The new diagonal crossing has low kerbs either side making for a bumpy and difficult drop/climb as a mobility impaired scooter user. The other new crossings are flat, why isn't this new crossing with limited time to cross not the same? This is poor for mobility impaired users. The time allotted is also tight given the width of the crossing and navigating the obstacle of the kerb.
Updates
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All newly installed crossings in Dunstable feature taciles and dropped kerbs with the exception of the diagonal at the High Street / Church Street / West Street crossroads between the corners NatWest Bank and the Estate Agents. Due to the distance from one side to the other this crossing exceeds the maximum DDA Compliant crossing distance and therefore we do not encourage its use but rather its safe alternative being the crossings adjacent which are DDA compliant.
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Email from customer as below in response to the reply they reveived from initial enquiry:
I find the reply odd that you accept to building a non DDA compliant crossing on the diagonal between NatWest bank and the estate agent.
The advise simply telling me to use another instead. Whilst I now know the issue of the lack of a dropped kerb and signal timings difficult to navigate safely I can plan for this, however others will use it like myself and be unaware until they find themselves either time of short of stuck attempting to climb the kerb as they reach the other side.
When parked at the kerb edge I didnt spot the drop, although clearly it caused an issue climbing it at the other side.
There are no notices to tell people of the issue and advise them to use an alternative.
What baffles me more is that this is a new facility and one would assume it to be built to DDA spec (superseded by the all encompassing Equality act 2010) therefore the scheme should have an EQIA assessment to cover for people such as myself
As well as well those with other disabilities.
I would like to understand how the assessment came to the view that disabled users should
Simply cross somewhere else?
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Email received from the customer to follow up his original email, this has been passed to the Area Team to respond. Concerning details about the crossing.
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This scheme is being managed by Nathan Kirwan in the Assets Infrastructure Delivery Team.
Matt Simkus has already responded on the CRN confirming the crossing distance exceeds the maximum required by the DDA. However, this is how the crossing has been designed and therefore implemented. All the other crossings at the locus have been designed with people with mobility issues in mind and it is therefore encouraged that they use these instead.
All further enquiries related to this need to be sent to Nathan Kirwan.
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Customer email passed to Nathan Kirwan- as advised in the report.
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Clearing request from Traffic Management Team list, as details have been passed on to the correct team to look in to / respond.
This report is now closed to updates. You can make a new report in the same location.