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00:00Good morning, people of Somerset. Welcome to another live stream here with Daniel Mumby,
00:07your local democracy reporter, and I've brought a couple of good friends along with me. Could you
00:11please introduce yourself to our audience? Hello there, I'm Tony O'Van Hensbergen and I lead a
00:16campaign group called Accessible Wells, which is all about trying to get much better access,
00:21particularly for wheelchair and scooter users, blind people and so forth, to get access to wells
00:28and live like any other citizen would. Excellent. And our other friend joining us today,
00:32we're passing the microphone between the two of us, Dick Hodgson, a recent acquisition of a
00:39wheelchair, unfortunately. I had worked before in accessibility and National Cycle Network,
00:46so this is only an extension of it, and surprising how difficult it is with a wheelchair.
00:51Yes, so Theo and Dick have very kindly given up some time this morning to join us on the
00:56outskirts of Wells, where the Priory Fields housing development, which has been delivered
01:00by Bovis Homes, and we're going to talk about accessibility, but rather than just talk about it,
01:05we're actually going to put it to the test, because yours truly is going to be sitting
01:10in this mobility scooter, which has been very kindly provided by Theo and Dick. We're going
01:14to sit in it and essentially we're going to talk about the accessibility issues with this housing
01:19estate, especially the fact that you have to go the long way around to get onto the cycle path
01:25leading to the leisure centre. So what we're going to do for the next 5-10 minutes or so,
01:28provided I don't crash this, I have had one practice go and it went okay, is we'll be going
01:34the long way around, past those barriers, down there, and ending up probably opposite those
01:40steps in about 10 minutes time. I should point out that I'm going to have to rest the camera
01:45quite low down so I can operate the steering, so this may be a little more awkward than some
01:50of the other live streams that we've had, and I won't be able to respond to your comments quite
01:54so easily as sometimes, but thanks in advance for your patience, and thank you again to Theo
01:58and Dick for joining us. I'm going to turn the key on the scooter, I believe that's on,
02:10like I said I have only had one practice thing in here, so there we go, and we will slowly get
02:18moving, and what I'm going to do is I'm going to point the camera this way whilst we get trundling
02:22up the slope. So Theo, just for a little bit of context as we head off, for people who don't know
02:29this part of Wales, how long have the homes in this part of Wales been ongoing, and when did
02:35you first become aware of this issue with the path? Well I only became aware of the issue with the path
02:41probably about four or five months ago, when I had to be walking past it, and with our group,
02:48campaign group, we were surveying which footpaths in Wales are accessible and usable for recreational
02:56use by wheelchair users, and I mean it just made me stop and laugh, because of how ridiculous it
03:06is, it's an abomination, that somebody should think of putting in a set of steps, when it
03:14wouldn't take too much imagination to imagine a slope instead, yes, and it's a new estate which
03:22has absolutely fabulous cars running all along it. We'll just pause there for a second,
03:29making sure that we've made it safely through that little chicane, I mean that in itself
03:33was pretty tight, you might have heard sort of the wheel buffering along the side, but it's
03:38not ideal for someone who's having to get used to one of these is it?
03:42Well I think you will get used to it fairly soon, but some of these scooters
03:48are a bit, can be a bit jittery, so yeah I can understand that if you're going through a narrow
03:53gap, if you were to hit a slight change in height, a cracked paving stone, something like that,
03:59you would soon end up potentially hitting the side, or coming off a dropped kerb,
04:05yeah, but I mean in fairness, all the parts on this estate absolutely model as far as I'm
04:13concerned, there's loads of parts around here, they've put a load of parts in on the other
04:19side as well for recreational use, but there's just this one obvious blight where they're putting
04:24these these horrendous steps. Yeah, let's bring Dick into the conversation, as a regular wheelchair
04:30user, in fact if we just let you, if we let you pull alongside me so that you're properly in shot,
04:36thanks for bearing with us with all the camera angles, I'm having to steer left-handed, but
04:40so Dick, you obviously know Wells very well, you're a former civil engineer if memory serves,
04:47so you sort of know what it's like to brave these kinds of paths on a daily basis, and
04:52just talk us through how challenging it is for you on a situation like this? A surprising number of
04:56accidents I've had, when I started I was on a borrowed wheelchair, which is a bit sensitive, but
05:02yeah, I think I first of all drove a pedestrian off the pavement into the traffic, and then realised
05:09you really need insurance on these things, which would easily cause a major accident, so yes, I've
05:15faced cars driving up pavements, I've faced motorcycles of course, and it's surprising how
05:23easy it is to drive. Yeah, and the wheelchair that you're using now is quite a very special
05:29model, it's certainly a lot more advanced than the scooter. Yeah, I can use it inside the house,
05:36if I can turn on the spot, but it's still limited on what shops I can go in. Yeah.
05:42I've been doing a good job on that, talking to the shop owners, and generally
05:47ensuring signs of improvement. Yeah, if we just hover here for a second, so I can get the camera
05:54on both of you. So you are both members of Accessible Wells, and one of the things that
06:00we'll be including in the article that will follow this live stream is all the different
06:04measures that you're looking at to make the city more accessible, and could you both go into a bit
06:08more detail about your manifesto, as it were, for the city? If you just pass the mic up to...
06:17If you just take the mic so we can hear you a bit better. So we are having to pass one mic to the
06:20other. We're going to make Wells a city where people with disabilities, particularly people in
06:27wheelchairs and scooters and blind people, the good news is that Sunset Council are now talking
06:33to us about some remediations that they're intending to make, which is great news,
06:40but there's lots of other things, like dog fouling. Imagine you're sitting in a wheelchair,
06:46and you actually, it's one of those that you push yourself on the wheels. Yeah. And, or you're a
06:52mother with young children, with a push chair, or you're blind, even worse, and there's dog fouling
06:59on the street. You know, you can see an accident coming on, can't you? Yeah. And there are councils
07:07around the country who have put in place a number of very simple measures to reduce the amount of
07:12dog fouling. Education is needed primarily, but there are some initiatives like, you know, why
07:18don't the shops have some poop scoops so that when something happens outside their shop, it can be
07:24instantly removed, rather than running the risk of having it walk into their carpets. Yeah. So
07:29there's a variety of things, but so there's about 16 improvement projects we've got to make
07:36roads normal for Dick and his chumps. Yeah, Dick, I want to just touch on that as well, because
07:43without going into too much detail about your personal life, you've not always been a wheelchair
07:47user. But in terms of the stuff that Tao's just been talking about, a lot of the stuff is
07:57stuff that able-bodied people, in terms of like dog fouling and curbs and so forth, we take it
08:03for granted, or see it as something that's easy to solve. Can you talk about the challenges that
08:10you face on that thing, and how easy it's going to be to sort of ameliorate it for people in your
08:14situation?
08:45Excellent. Yeah, very tricky. We're just going to, I'm just going to pull a little further
08:56forward so that we don't obstructing the people behind us. That's no problem at all. If you have
09:02any just joined us here on Somerset Live,
09:20just to let you know you are live on Somerset Live, we're doing a live stream.
09:24Yes, talking about these very issues. It's okay, we haven't got the camera pointed straight at you.
09:28Yeah, if you haven't just joined us, it's Daniel Mumby, your local democracy reporter,
09:33out here with Tao and Dick from Accessible Wells. We are, and the Priory Field site,
09:37talking all about the challenges of accessibility in wells in general, and with this site in
09:43particular. And what I think we'll do is we'll just get a little further up this ramp, onto the
09:49strawberry line, and point ourselves in the direction we need to be going. And then we can
09:54talk about the actual issues with this part of the development. So we're sort of moving off
10:04the smooth tarmac, looking both ways, turning left. And we'll just pull here for a moment,
10:10if that's okay. Thanks again for putting up with the issues that we had.
10:17Another interesting thing, Daniel, I think, is the lack of premises in wells. They've bothered
10:24to make reasonable adjustments. And on the counter to that, we've got a shining example,
10:30which is the Bishop's Palace, where over the last year, responding to feedback, they've made,
10:36I think, six significant adjustments to allow people to enjoy every aspect of the estate.
10:41And the only place a wheelchair can't go in the Bishop's Palace is up on the boat walk,
10:45right at the top. Not unreasonably. Sorry? Not unreasonably. No, not unreasonably at all.
10:51But I estimate that about a sixth of the shops in wells are not accessible. And I think shopkeepers
10:59tend to worry about, well, it's going to cost me a lot of money. But it doesn't need to cost a
11:03lot of money. Because if you're a shop, if you're a small shop, it'd be unreasonable to expect you
11:08to start putting in structural modifications to allow wheelchair access. But a simple thing like
11:15a push button at the door with a sign ring here, with a wheelchair, to call for attention and get
11:20served at the door if necessary. Yes. And that is a reasonable adjustment. Yeah. And that's cost you
11:25about 30, 40 quid a week as a shopkeeper. So there are things that can be done to help people. And
11:31there are some cities, there's one in France, medieval cities, just like Wells. I forget the
11:37name of it right now. But apparently, on every shop that is not accessible like that, you can
11:42get served at the door. That's wonderful. Yeah, it's great. So it is about education and
11:48helping people understand that we can make reasonable adjustments quite simply. Yes. And
11:55involve people. I'm just going to pull a little further forwards because we have a cyclist coming
11:58down and I don't want to completely block the path. Like I say, we are on the Strawberry Line
12:02now. So this is a shared use route. I think there's just enough room if you want to come through.
12:09And while you were talking about that, Teo, it's, if I just point the camera forwards as we go
12:13forward, what you were saying there about the Bishop's Palace, it really kind of hammers the
12:19issue with the Prioryfield site home, where a building that's hundreds of years old has
12:23bent over backwards to make accessible. But we are dealing with houses that are only a few years old.
12:29And there seems to be a big sticking point with the access. Because as we've seen, if you're in
12:36a mobility scooter or a wheelchair and you're wanting to get onto this route, which leads into
12:40the city via the Leisure Centre, it's quite a long way around. I mean, we're lucky that it's
12:44not raining at the moment, let alone snowing.
12:46Let's go back quite a time. And that was the city on the Strawberry Line, which Mr Beeching created
12:55really by closing the railway. And it's taken the last 20 years in order to make people aware of it.
13:00I was made aware of it, let's get people on it and using it, because it was an asset for the schools and the Leisure Centre.
13:08Absolutely.
13:16So we're talking about the access issues with this specific site. And so talk about, in a nutshell,
13:23the battle that you've had with Bovis and its parent company, Vistri, over this issue.
13:28I think I thought as well, to think about the background to this, is that I
13:31thought it was a set of steps, which means that somebody, you know, imagine a mother with a child
13:37on a rainy day having to walk. Well, I mean, this whole broadcast is taking place whilst we're walking
13:45the extension, but you wouldn't have to walk if there was a slope here on a set of steps.
13:50Yeah, absolutely. And that phrase, permissive discrimination, is such a resonant one of,
13:57like I say, able-bodied people take these kind of routes for granted. And it's not until you've
14:02actually explored them, like we are now, that it hammers the issue home. And something does
14:07need to be done about it. And most able-bodied people, once you point out the problems to them,
14:12they're very willing to help, such as has been happening at the business palace.
14:17You point it out, you explain it, and they respond. Yes. And I'm sure we're going to get
14:21a lot more influence in Wales as a result of our activities, but this is the one that I'd
14:26love to see fixed. Yes. Because it is an abomination. Yeah, we are just going to pull up here.
14:32In the interests of balance, we did approach Vistri for a comment before we started broadcasting.
14:39And so just in the interest of balance, and we'll read it out in full, and then if you gentlemen
14:42would like to respond in any way, we can include that as well in the broadcast. But we spoke to
14:47the head of their communications, and here's what they had to say. We understand the frustration
14:51that this has caused to wheelchair users. However, we have absolutely no intention of
14:55discriminating against any person who cannot use these steps. These steps replace a set of
15:00old steps that were previously located there, and they have been built according to the design
15:05approved by the local planning authority. Technical engineers consulted on this proposal
15:10confirmed a step-free ramp could not be built in this location due to the steep gradient of the
15:14land. This path is not a public right-of-way, but instead provides an additional entrance and exit
15:18to the new development. Public step-free access is available via the cycle path nearby. And that's
15:23a full statement from Vistri's head of communications, Vistri being the company that owns Bovis Homes.
15:29Is there anything you gentlemen would like to say in response to that as we start to draw
15:33things to a close? I think from my time with Sustrans, we all face this all the time, and we got over it
15:41somehow. If you think ahead, then you can get around it. You have to have a bit of ingenious
15:46bit you need to get around it. With your engineering experience, is that a slope that could be
15:56overcome with a slightly longer run-up? Yes, I can guarantee that. You've only got to look at
16:03two valleys, and this is what they've achieved down there. Yeah, and elsewhere on the
16:08strawberry line, because there is a slope up in the eastern stretch where they've put it into DFT
16:14guidelines. I would just like to make a plea to Vistri Group. One of your main corporate slogans
16:25is do the right thing. There's no way that here you have done the right thing. You also have all
16:31kinds of commitments on your website about building wonderful communities, vibrant places that people
16:37enjoy living. This is not somewhere that people are going to come by here and moan about this for
16:46years to come, and Bovis, your reputation is slurred unless you fix this quite frankly.
16:53Brilliant. We're not intending to stop pointing out the errors of your ways. Please do the right thing.
17:00Excellent. Just finally, before we wrap up the broadcast, if people want to find out more about
17:04Accessible Wells in general, where do they go, and how can they get involved with volunteering?
17:09The easy way is to send an email to accessiblewells at gmail.com, accessiblewells at gmail.com,
17:17and somebody will pick it up and get back to you. Wonderful. Taya, Dick, thank you so much for your
17:22time this morning. Thank you for joining me here in the heart of Wells, and thank you for everyone
17:26who's tuned in. I know we had a couple of little technical dropouts for a few sections of that,
17:30but thank you for everyone who stuck with us. This video will be available indefinitely on
17:34our Facebook page, so if you missed any part of the stream, you can scroll back through to your
17:38heart's content, and we'll be back in Wells, hopefully sometime this weekend, looking at the
17:42new section of the Strawberry Line that's opened near the little supermarket at the other end of
17:46the city. But in the meantime, from Priory Fields,