York Disability Rights Forum: "We're not being listened to"
The group is objecting to the possible permanent of blue badge holders from the city centre.
Disability campaigners in York say they're not being listened to, ahead of plans to permanently ban blue badge holders from entering the city’s pedestrian zone.
A draft report set to go before the city’s executive on November 18th recommends councillors approve plans to make the changes permanent, except for on Castlegate.
The plans would see the footstreet hours run from 10.30am to 8pm until the end of the year, to coincide with the Christmas markets, reducing to 10.30am to 7pm from January 2022. Cars can enter outside of these times.
Doctor Mick Phythian is a member of York Disability Rights Forum, and is one of the founding members of York Accessibility Action:
"Blue badge holders have been excluded from the centre of York for the past 18 months. The Council used government emergency regulations to close off Goodramgate initially to help with social distancing, before saying it was for the benefit of the economy to help cafes.
"Now they say it's hostile vehicle mitigation. The problem is that this has been forecast since the police letter to the Council in 2018, and the Council have made no effort to mitigate in advance.
"Blue badge parking should have been created somewhere in the city. I would hope the Council would change their mind on this.
"It's been very hurtful for the blue badge community in and around York, and it'll also affect people on the fringes of York. We've bumped into people in Malton who no longer come into York because they're not welcome.
"It'll also affect visitors. It's too much to be expecting blue badge holders to be travelling 150 metres, 200 metres or even half a kilometre to get to the shops or bank.
"People can't get to the hairdressers, dentists or friends. We're hearing lots of sad stories.
"The Council haven't listened so far; blue badge holders are now competing with delivery cars making various pickups at locations around the city.
"They're not listening, and mitigations are few and far between. I don't know what we're going to do in the future - there's a very simple human rights issue here, and we're going to have to fight it on that".
In a statement City of York Council said:
"We have been listening to Blue Badge Holders and do understand the impact of removal of the Blue Badge exemption during the footstreets hours.
"The recommendations include extensive efforts to find solutions which protect the city while limiting the impact on Blue Badge Holders, including what could be over £1m investment improving access into and through the city centre and supporting long-term planning by establishing an Access Officer role within the council.
"We know that this falls short for some and understand their view, but the recommendations reflect our duty to protect the city centre and the 8 million people who use it every year. These are difficult decisions which Executive will consider very carefully next week."