Access for all

[alexandra kaley]

Hi,

Can anyone help me identify work going on in the South Downs to promote an 'inclusive access' policy. I am particularly interested in projects which aim to promote access and use of the south downs for those with physical or leaning disabilities.

If anyone knows of/is involved in any work like this your info would be greatly appreciated.

 

Many thanks

Alex

[Julian Martin Leigh-Pollitt]

The Steyning & District Partnership has a project to create an Access for All walk from Bramber (near Steyning). It is in early stages but we have made contact WSCC & SDNP. Any ideas as to funding would be welcome.

 

Regards  Martin Leigh-Pollitt.

[Peter Fancourt]

Hi Alex

In response to your request for information on groups who are involved with inclusive access for all sections of the community including disabled people I would offer the following brief summery of the objects and activities of the Sussex group of the Trail Riders Fellowship [TRF].

The TRF is a National Club for all who wish to ride Legal Motorcycles on Legal Carriageways and by so doing protect our green lanes for all users and for future generations.

In the Sussex group there is currently around 70 members and they come in all ages, both genders, multi racial, and all backgrounds. It is true to say that the TRF have members from all walks of life from manual laborers and supermarket shelf stackers to company directors and a Lord of the Realm and they all ride together [and occasionally fall off] as equals.

The activities, which are generally carried out in small groups of 4 or 5, will always include members of diverse age, gender, race and social background; it is the enjoyment of the activity that draws them together and because of the skill involved is socially levelling.  

Trail riding is open to everyone, and anyone who has passed their CBT in motorcycling can join in with them on their small learner legal machines.    

In this way the TRF is an inclusive access organisation in the fullest sense of the meaning. 

Motorcycling allows people with limited disabilities the freedom to fully enjoy access to the countryside without having to relay on the traditional means of disabled transport.

Invalid carriages and pavement scooters, by their very appearance and nature, are badges of disability and thereby provoke a reaction and set then apart from the physically fit. By riding a motorcycle no one knows that your knees, hips or ankles are full of arthritis or that you have a back problem; you're just another motorcyclist out enjoying the countryside but, most important of all, you're  doing it independently of any helper or carer and doing it as an accepted member of a group and with a sense of belonging to that group.

The Sussex group of the TRF have, for many years, worked closely with various horse riding clubs and organisations and between March and October help out at horse events across the county.

They do the score collecting at the ‘cross country’ discipline for everything from local pony clubs to full blown Eventing GB events; these are always held on private parkland, of course, but it does mean that they are riding their motorcycles in very close proximity to the competing horses.

They also ‘mark up‘ the course for long distance endurance horse events organised by Endurance GB. This involves riding up to 50km across the countryside on Bridleways and some private land to post direction signs and then collecting them all in afterwards when the horses have completed. As, by necessity, they have to ride non road legal routes the organisers obtain the land owners consent to allow them legal access across their land only for the days necessary. The TRF will only do this on the strict understanding that they have landowners consent in order to remain within the law.   

The highlight of the 2011 season was to be invited to act as course marshals and score collectors at the National Carriage Driving Championship held in Windsor Great Park.

As with all these activities they are there by invitation, receive the grateful thanks of the organisers and have an excellent relationship with the equine community. This must be accepted as being inclusive access in the truest sense of the meaning.

The TRF normal activities do not lend themselves easily to charitable assistance to the community but they do assist where they can and have, in a small way and in kind rather than cash, helped the valuable work of the charities like the Riding for the Disabled.

For the future they are planning to organise a ‘Fun Day’ for disabled and disadvantaged youngsters. The proposal is to gather together a group of their members [as trail riders] and drivers of Land Rovers or similar in order to provide a fun ride round private parkland on or in each of the different forms of transport for disadvantaged local youngsters and keep them ‘topped up’ with an all day BBQ and drinks. If they can get this off the ground the Sussex TRF will fund the whole event. Sussex TRF cannot take full credit for this idea as it has been done in the past, very successfully, by TRF groups in Wales and Cornwall. We hope this will enable a disadvantaged group within the community to benefit from access to and enjoyment of, our countryside in a unique and exciting way which they would otherwise be excluded from.   

The important points to understand about trail riding generally and the TRF in particular, is the truly inclusive nature of our membership, our commitment to responsible access to the countryside and our desire to see that access maintained for all users and for future generations.  

I hope this is of some help. For further information go to www.trf.og.uk

 

[Allison Thorpe]

Alex

Thanks for raising this topic. It is also of interest to the South Downs Local Access Forum: at its last meeting in January the group heard from Hampshire Roamability and 4 Sight for Ramblers about the recent experiences of physically disabled and visually impaired users in the countryside. It was interesting to hear the different problems faced and overcome by both groups and to be given some guidance for the future on how to make the rights of way accessible to the many rather than the few. Advice was also given by members of the Forum: for example on how to deal with livestock when accompanied by a guide or assistance dog.

We will be addressing access for all or inclusive access as part of our forthcoming management plan and we are also undertaking a diversity and equality review. In the meantime we are always grateful to hear of the work and acitivities of others in this area. Particularly in relation to the South Downs.

[Cath Hart]

Hi all

The Shipwrights Way is a new long-distance path currently in development, running north-south through the Hampshire part of the South Downs National Park.  We are keen to provide access for all, and Hampshire Roamability have been very supportive of this; at the opening of the first sections their members 'road-tested' the route and suggested a couple of improvements which have then been made.  Seeing their Trampers using the first sections of the path has then helped me when contracting path works along the route elsewhere.  These modern machines are very capable, and mean that with a few changes (eg being mindful of crossfall of paths and sudden changes of direction) we can provide access to many rights of way; far more than the traditional 'access for all' type specifications would suggest.

Cath Hart, Shipwrights Way Project Officer

www.hants.gov.uk/shipwrights

[Tim Squire, SDNPA]

As Allison Points out we have heard a lot about accessibilty and how we should strive to improve access for more people and remove barriers that prevent access to the countryside. Your local SDNPA ranger may be able to help in pointing out where funding may be available and with information about similar projects locally. Look out for the launch of the Paths for Communities fund which Natural England will be launching in April which will accept applications for projects to create new multi-users paths. This could be potentially one source of funding for this kind of work.

[Petronella Nattrass]

Hampshire Countryside Service is currently developing a 2nd series of Story Trails which includes a trail at Butser Hill.

Part of the 'Inspiring You' initiative, this project aims to encouraged families of children and young people with disabilities and/or additional needs to get out and explore the countryside in Hampshire. The trails have been selected to provide interesting, easily accessible (and preferably circular) routes of about 1 to 1.5 miles length. For each trail the professional storytellers from Orange Apples have created a 'skeleton' story which children and adults can add to as they progress around the trail. The trails are waymarked and self-guiding story books can be downloaded from the web-page at www.hants.gov.uk/storytrails or to purchase on-line at www.hants.gov.uk/shop.

'The Dragon of Butser Hill' will be an excellent addition to this 2nd series, and we're encouraging other organisations to create Story Trails at their own sites - anyone interested in knowing more, do get in touch!

 

[Jacquetta Fewster]

We're working with the Campaign for National Parks, the Sussex Wildlife Trust, the YHA, the National Trust, the Hampshire Wildlife Trust and the National Park Authority to devise a project that will help three under-represented groups make the most of the National Park.  One of the groups is people with disabilities.  The others are bme communities and youth.  The project will be a follow-on to the very successful CNP Mosaic project (see www.mosaicnationalparks.org).  We're keen to involve as many partners in the project as possible, so if anyone is interested in helping, do get in touch.  Thanks.

Jacquetta Fewster, South Downs Society

www.southdownssociety.org.uk

[Stephen Sellers]

Hi Alex

We promote care farming enterprises on family farms in the South East including the SDNP. Learning Disabilities is one of the sectors involved, to date we have found one site for this sector and that was not a farm.

Our website www.farmbuddies.org.uk is just being amended but should be available again this week and you can download our newsletter from there to obtain more information.

Stephen Sellers

[Janet Sinclair]

Alex, we publish our Accessibilty statement on our website and most other attractions also do so. We also encourage anyone to contact us so that we can provide guidance (and guides if need be) to support access for any visit to Stansted Park.

Janet Sinclair

 

[alexandra kaley]

Thank you everyone for your responses- this is has been very useful, glad to know there is so much good work going on!

[Liz Robinson]

South Downs National Park Authority
Rosemary’s Parlour
Midhurst
GU29 9SB

Dear Sir or Madam

I enclose a copy of an article from Chalk and Trees, the magazine of the Chilterns AONB. I hope very much that with the advent of the South Downs National Park Authority something similar is possible in Adur.

I am the Coordinator/Leader of the Shoreham and Southwick University of the Third Age Meanderers Walking Group. By reason of our limited physical capabilities we walk only 1 ½ to 2 ½ miles where there are no stiles or hills. As you will appreciate it is very difficult to find suitable walks in the countryside. It would be very much easier if there were no stiles as in the Whitchurch and Goring Heath area in the Southern Chilterns.

Please consider replacing some of the stiles in the Adur area in order that we can enjoy a wider range of walks in the new South Downs National Park.

I am most concerned at what has happened to the footpath beside the Adur River (see enclosed photocopy dated 1 July 2010 from the Shoreham Herald). This is one of our favourite walks which is now denied to us. Building obstacles like this is a serious problem for people with limited mobility and I wonder whether it contravenes the Disability Discrimination Act?

I will be grateful to hear your comments on the above.

Yours sincerely

Liz (from letter sent July 2010)

[Maureen C Comber]

Liz seems to be making a very valid point.  Why should not all rights of way be multi-user?

With around 80% of rights of way being footpaths, what a difference it would make if even half of those became bridleways which are open to all non-motorised users?