To receive petitions and presentations from members of the public including:
1. Name of organisation
Decision:
Ms Katie Dyton, AccessAble, thanked the Chairman for the opportunity to address the Committee and provided a verbal, (assisted by PowerPoint) presentation, regarding the work of AccessAble.
Minutes:
Audio Recording – Start of Item – 7 Minutes 39 Seconds
Katie Dyton, AccessAble, thanked the Chairman for the opportunity to address the Committee and gave a verbal presentation, assisted by a PowerPoint presentation, about AccessAble. Ms Dyton drew Members attention to the following:
· Ms Dyton managed the AccessAble Partnership in Letchworth.
· AccessAble was originally named DisabledGo and was set up in 2002 by Dr. Gregory Burke as a result of his own experiences. Dr Burke had developed and produced a surveying template of all disability groups in order to create guides.
Research had showed that:
· 98% were more likely to visit a place if access information was available beforehand;
· 4 out 5 people checked access information on line before visiting a new place;
· 80% of the provided information was deemed inaccurate or vague;
· 81% of people checked the venue’s own website first;
· 9 out of 10 people felt anxious about visiting a place for the first time;
· 76% of people would not visit a place if there were unable to obtain access information; and
· The Social Mission of AccessAble was to empower disabled people in order that they could access their community to the full by providing essential detailed accessibility information.
· The Department of Workplace and Pensions latest figures showed that there were an estimated 13.3 million disabled people in the UK.
· 45% of people in the UK have a disability, (being 1 in 4 households that are affected);
· There are 34.5 million carers across the UK
· An estimated 17 million people across the country would benefit from having access to information.
· There were currently 80 detailed access guides across Letchworth;
· Access guides were objective, factual and user driven;
· All user guides were standardised and quality assured; and
· There were just over 350 Partners and 1.5 million unique users of the AccessAble website
Ms Dyton provided Members with a detailed demonstration, explaining the level of detail of the AccessAble website for venues in Letchworth and highlighted the following:
· The website aesthetics could be changed to suit an individual user which included altering the font, layout, colour, size of text and language;
· The website and mobile app worked in conjunction with “Screen Reader” software;
· There were featured access guides on the website;
· Access routes took into consideration tactile markings, dropped kerbs and signage;
· Website included filtered venue accessibility features;
· Information was provided as to whether staff in a particular venue had disability training and;
· A large amount of information was provided in relation to a venue’s parking which included photographs, the number of blue badge holder spaces, the cost of parking and the distance from the car park to the venue’s entrance.
The Letchworth Councillor became quorate on the arrival of Councillor Daniel Allen at 19:54.
The following Members asked questions:
· Councillor Gary Grindal; and
· Councillor Sean Prendergast.
Ms Dyton provided the following information in response to questions raised:
· AccessAble was funded by the Letchworth BID and they were dependent on funding and;
· Statistics on how many people visited the website could be provided on request.
The Chairman thanked Ms Dyton for her presentation.