This morning (Monday 24th July, 2023) I met with the leader of Herefordshire Council, Jonathan Lester and his Cabinet member for Transport & Infrastructure, Phillip Price at the Council’s Plough Lane Offices.
I urged both the leader and Cabinet member to listen to the disabled community living here in Herefordshire, when it comes to all things accessibility in terms of our infrastructure.
We also discussed my successful pavement campaign which saw 16 pairs of dropped curbs installed on Harrow Road and Plough Lane in the city.
I took my opportunity to ask the Cabinet Member why it took the council 4 years to act on concerns that I first raised about the state of our pavement network back in 2018.
However he was unable to answer this because he wasn’t in power at the time or in charge of Transport and Infrastructure for the county.
As many of you, my readers and followers will know the Minister for Roads and Local Transport Richard Holden MP wrote to officials at Herefordshire council in an attempt to find out what caused the delay in listening to my concerns.
It has been 126 days since that letter was sent so I am wondering why it is taken them so long to respond and what they have been hiding for this amount of time.
I decided to leave both man with three simple recommendations to consider following our meeting, and those recommendations are:
Recommendation A
Complete the countywide pavement review for dropped kerbs so that those who use wheelchairs, mobility scooters and other walking aids are safe our the network of roads.
Recommendation B:
Complete any outstanding work identified by myself and the previous administration.
Recommendation C:
Honour the promise that was made by the previous administration in respect of funding for improvements to the accessibility of our pavement network
I then explained the background behind all three of the recommendations to both men.
The Recommendations Explained.
Recommendation A:
A countywide pavement review was started in August 2022 following the completion of the work on Harrow Road and Plough Lane in Hereford. This review identified several roads in Hereford city that had pavements without dropped kerbs, please can the new administration continue to access the network year by year to ensure improvements are continual.
Recommendation B:
There are several pavements in the city of Hereford that require adaptions that are yet to be completed and the failure to do this is causing us to be unsafe when attempting to be independent, I would be grateful if funding could be found to ensure that the outstanding work is completed in a timely manner.
Recommendation C:
I would be grateful if you could explore all funding options so that funds can be put aside year by year to ensure that outstanding work going forward can be completed in a timely manner.
I have been asked been by the Leader of Herefordshire Council and his Cabinet Member for Transport and Infrastructure to work with them in ensuring that improvements are continually made to the pavement network across the county.
The Cabinet Member has also promised to find out where we are at with the countywide pavement review that was started by the previous administration in August 2022.
He also promised to find out if a response has either been sent or is being prepared in relation to the letter that was sent to the Council by the Minister for Roads and Local Transport, Richard Holden MP earlier this year.
I also shared an example of where there is an accessibility issue on Grandstand Road in Hereford for wheelchairs and Mobility scooter users, which they have agreed to bring to the attention of the officers.
They have agreed that the way operatives think when they are checking the road network in the county for faults needs to change so that it includes pavements.
I’m delighted that I felt listened to and look forward to working with the Cabinet Member on all things accessibility over the next 4 years.
I accept that this is a short and boring blog but wanted to share the outcome of my meeting with the Leader of Herefordshire Council and his Cabinet Member for Transport and Infrastructure as soon as it had taken place.
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I would like to, and in my normal way by taking the opportunity to thank each and everyone of you, my readers and followers for taking the time out of your busy schedules to read my blogs each week.
Cam
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