DPTAC response to:
Welsh Assembly Government's consultation 'People, Places, Futures - The Wales Spatial Plan
Introduction
1. The Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC) is grateful for the chance to comment on the Welsh Assembly Government's consultation document 'People, Places, Futures - The Wales Spatial Plan'.
2. DPTAC was set up under the Transport Act 1985 to advise the Government on the transport needs of disabled people. Our role was recently extended, on a non-statutory basis, to advise the Government on the built environment needs of disabled people.
3. DPTAC has identified four overarching principles on which to base its advice to Government, other organisations and disabled people, which are that:
- accessibility for disabled people is a condition of any investment;
- accessibility for disabled people must be a mainstream activity;
- users should be involved in determining accessibility;
- achieving accessibility for disabled people is the responsibility of the provider.
4. These principles are the basis of DPTAC's response to consultations. In this response we set out some general issues before making specific comments on the consultation.
General comments
5. DPTAC's principle concern is to ensure accessibility for disabled people, by which we mean inclusive transport systems and built environments which are easy to reach, use and understand in safety and comfort.
6. Depending on the scope of 'environment' the process of assessment has considerable benefits for addressing access for disabled people. Our focus is therefore on the wider sustainability appraisal, which includes social and economic concerns.
The population
7. Disabled people account for a significant proportion of people. The number of disabled people varies according to the definition used. Disabled people make up about one-fifth (20%) of UK people, or 11.7 million adults. About one in five of these is of working age, and estimates suggest that one in four households has a disabled resident. Levels of disability increase with age. 8% of those aged 16-17 years have a current long-term disability, compared with 33% of those aged 50 to 65. Disabled people have a spending power of around £40 billion per annum. Wales has a higher level of limiting long-term illness than any English region, and 87,882 persons were registered with a sensory or physical disability in Wales at 31 March 2002.
8. Disabled people are not a homogenous group with identical needs. The needs of people with mental health problems or learning disabilities are distinct from those of wheelchair users for example. Sensitive signage design, for example, will assist many with people with visual impairments, but not those who are wholly blind.
9. Of disabled people overall, in broad terms:
- 70% have difficulty walking and/or climbing steps;
- 41% have a hearing loss;
- 24% have a vision loss.
10. Disabled people live throughout the whole community. One in four households are reported to have a disabled resident. The need for access for disabled people is not limited to specific areas or buildings but present throughout the wider transport and the built environment.
11. In broad terms, over the next 30 years:
- The proportion of the population over 65 will increase by 40%;
- The number of people aged over 65 will double;
- The proportion over 80 will increase by 100% and the number will treble.
12. Over the same period that will bring about these changes in the population profile, the overall population will increase by less than 7%.
13. The growing populations of disabled and older people will have social, as well as economic, implications if those responsible do not recognise and address the need for more inclusive environments. Mobility and transport are vital to achieving and sustaining self-sufficiency and independence into old age.
A strategic approach
14. There is enormous scope and opportunity to improve accessibility for disabled people but it will require a strong commitment at all levels.
15. Accessibility for disabled people is often only considered in terms in terms of detailed design. DPTAC believes this is no longer sufficient and that strategic decisions, investment and policies must be underpinned by consideration of accessibility for disabled people, with evidence of how diversity has been considered in decision making.
16. We welcome the Government's commitment to accessibility being a condition of public money being spent in Transport 2010.
17. Private and public investors of any transport or built environment project need to know whether investment plans meet the need of disabled people. They will also need evidence that people at all levels of responsibility understand how to provide accessibility for disabled people effectively to prevent a waste of resources.
Specific Response to the Consultation
Building Sustainable Communities
18. DPTAC note the statement that "increasing mobility allows people to travel greater distances" in section 2.2. We observe that this increased mobility is not distributed evenly throughout the population, and that elderly and disabled people in particular may fail to benefit from it. We therefore suggest that the wording be changed to "increasing mobility has the potential to allow people to travel greater distances".
Achieving Sustainable Accessibility
19. We welcome the fact that the discussion of accessibility in this section does not focus exclusively on travel to a service. That discussion considers alternative ways in which a service may be provided, and rightly notes that information and communications technology is not yet available to all. However, the discussion of travel and journey times in Wales fails to consider the transport needs of elderly and disabled people.
20. This failure continues into section 3.4 where the subject of sustainable accessibility is further discussed. We believe that this is in part due to the language employed. "Accessibility" is here used as an alternative to "access", in the sense of "the means of moving from one place to another". As a result, the section ignores the issue of how available and convenient different means of access are to different sectors in society. This is the sense in which DPTAC and many others use the word "accessibility".
21. This comes across most clearly in the diagram 3.5 "The Spatial Challenges". Here two challenges are described. Firstly the challenge "Achieving Sustainable Accessibility" is expressed in terms of on areas with poor transport/ICT links, and on interdependence of services in cross border areas. Secondly the challenge "Building Sustainable Communities" is expressed in terms of population densities, migration and deprivation. This does not allow the accessibility needs of disabled people to be considered, and we recommend that these needs be explicitly referred to in the challenge ""Building Sustainable Communities".
22. We recommend that Table 1 "Factors Driving Change" would be more comprehensive of the "Social" list included "Increased numbers of disabled people as a result of ageing population".
23. We believe that these perspectives should also be reflected in the proposals for each zone, though we do not ourselves have the detailed knowledge of the regions of Wales to make such a recommendation.
Neil Betteridge,Chairman
Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee
1/14 Great Minster House
76 Marsham Street London SW1P 4 DR
Tel: 020 7944 8012
Email: dptac@dft.gsi.gov.uk
6 February 2004
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