June Meeting

The halfway point of the year...where on earth does the time go?

The main points in this meeting were the DES, and the Access Surveys. A report was given on a recent meeting of the DES reference group, and a relevance assessment of the councils Policy and Strategy Documents was put forward for comment. It was agreed that a small sub-group should examine this and consider how to proceed with assessing the ‘impact’ of each policy.

The survey form had been agreed, and names provided by Sound Advice Cumbria and Eden Voluntary Society for the Blind, who might be able to help. Ray Beare agreed to contact them before a meeting to confirm the final groups. Each group will survey one of six areas in the town centre.

Dave Spence of Capita, forwarded a programme of dropped kerbs. These were in Sandgate, outside Scotts Fish Restaurant, Lazonby Main Street between Co-op and Railway station junction, various on Anchor Close/Macadam Way in Penrith, Cookson Court/Newton Road in Penrith, various in Pategill, Penrith, and the junction of Askham Cresent with Friars Road/Close was suggested by a member, as was the right hand side of Friars Road/Close.

The suggestion of a social event for the Forum was raised again. Most of the members realised the benefits of meeting 'outside the office'. I, as chair, suggested that it might allow members to get to know each other better, providing a better understanding between members. After much discussion, Charles Thorntons suggestion of a cruise on the new 'Lady Wakefield', operated by Ullswater Steamers, was the best. Charles has since contacted the company, with the suggestion, with the agreement that the Forum would seek 'mutally beneficial publicity'.

The consultation document for the Penrith Museum Review was presented to the forum. The members agreed with the majority of the recommendations, but 'adaptations option 1' was favoured.

Following a lively debate on the Blue Badge Scheme consultation document, it was agreed certain comments would be put forward, including making the notice 'Front-Display this side uo' e bigger and more obvious. It was also thought that enforcement of disabled parking bays should be improved, and that traffic wardens should be more sympathetic to drivers with a disabibility. Ray Beare would forward these comments by 19th June.

The proposal for a debate on 'The Extremities of Disability' was enthusiastically received. It was sugested this could be a chance to clarify what can often be a 'grey area'. With clarification of the boundaries, it might become clearer how to go beyond them. Speakers will be looked into for this proposed event.

The next discussion was the finance of the forum. The percieved benefits of becoming a charity were explained to members, and Ray briefly described how this might be achieved. I, as chairman, feel that if we were in control of our own funds, we might be able to achieve much more, funding more events and influencing developments with grant assistance as we have done in the past. Ray had examples of Access Groups in the geographical area which are bening run as charities, and it was agreed that he would contact one of these to discuss their experience, to inform any decision the Forum might make.

The last business of the meeting was to inform members of the Disability Network Conference, which five members of the Forum are attending, on the 2nd of July. This is an opportunity to meet likeminded people, publicise the DES and the forums involvement in it. A report will be made to the forum at the next meeting.

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If anything in this post interests you, or you have a query for myself or the forum, please leave a comment, and I will get back to you.

Greg Sadler

Current and Ongoing Projects

Life on the Forum is never dull. Never a meeting goes by without something new being brought to the table. We do, however, have certain projects which will last throughout most of the year. In 2007, we are dealing with two primary issues, the Councils Disability Equality Scheme, and our own Town Centre Survey. The Disability Equality Scheme, or DES, involves looking at the Councils policies and procedures and deciding which are the most relevant to people with disabilities, and assessing their impact for those people. This information will then be used to advise the councils Disability Equality Scheme.

The survey is carried out annually, and is designed to give as accurate a picture as possible of the accessibility of local shops and businesses. This project is now in its second year, and so this is the first opportunity we've had to compare results, so it could be really interesting. In my personal view, this is probably the most important part of the forums work. Hopefully we can start to see where things are going right, and where they're not doing so well, which might allow us to target our work or advice to particular areas.

Other than these two current main objectives, as you will see, we deal with a number of local and national organisations, looking to improve the lives of disabled people in Eden through improvements to all areas of life, including transport, housing, and leisure to name a few.