Hi,
I need to know what other authorities are doing for schemes such as this so
you feedback will be valued and welcomed.
I need to report on a car parking scheme designed to improve vehicular
access & provide 10 extra parking spaces by converting a grassed square into
a car park. This will adopt the square as a highway. This is also a
residential area with no shops or commerce close by.
The DDA 2005 (effective 4 Dec 2006) and the new guidance for Panning and
Highways from the DRC states there is now a duty to proactively promote
disability equality. The DRC guidance suggests highways functions should now
be treated as if they were a service under Part 3 DDA so we have an
anticipatory duty. Does this mean that we may need to include at least 1
disabled parking bay within the scheme?
The technical officer has said that they have not been made aware of any
disabled person in this immediate area and if they provide a disabled
parking bay and it is not used, the residents will complain as the scheme is
designed to improve the parking problem. He also said that it was not
envisioned that anyone other than the residents would park there and that it
would therefore be unreasonable to provide a designated space.
The officer also has stated that because the spaces would be 2.6 metres wide
instead of 2.4 metres it would be easier to burn off the markings to make a
wider space should a request for a disabled parking bay be made by a
resident.
The legislation is new but there are many such parking schemes in the
planning and this would set the benchmark for the others.
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