Monday night’s meeting of Dubbo Regional Council looms as one of the city’s most important in a long time, with disabled people set to be the winners.
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Mayor Ben Shields will put to council a signature policy to have all council infrastructure upgraded to meet modern accessibility standards within a four-year timetable.
The Mayoral minute recommends council form a Disability Inclusion Technical Panel comprised of council staff, councillors and disability experts to identify the council-controlled problem areas that are in need of being upgraded to modern accessible standards.
Once the priority list of infrastructure works is determined, council will have a four-year period to complete the upgrades.
“Tonight will be the Dubbo Regional Council meeting that generations of locals with a disability will remember as a game changer,” Mr Ben Shields said.
“I’ve been on council for nearly 19 years and over that time I have received numerous complaints and reports indicating that we have a long way to go in making our city and region fully accessible.
“I lost count many years ago on the number of times someone who struggles with mobility contacts me to complain about a footpath not having accessible ramp gutters. We still have far too many footpaths where the ramps gutters are poorly designed and too steep for wheelchairs,” he said.
“Many of Council’s public toilet facilities are also not up to modern accessible standards. We simply should not have a situation where members of our community are not as equal as others.”
“The lack of Tactile Ground Surface Indicators for people with vision impairment is also an issue which needs to be addressed,” Councillor Shields said.
Mr Shields believes the whole community should get behind this initiative which is driven by a strong social conscience.
“This new disability inclusion plan will deliver an economic boost but primarily this is a responsibility we have to our community,” he said.
“There are sound economic reasons to have these upgrades done.
“Dubbo is a retirement hub for Western NSW. We encourage the development of retirement facilities and certainly more are popping up. Retirees are great for our region’s economy
“We can further encourage people to see Dubbo as a great place to live if we become the most accessible regional city in Australia.
“A lot of people with no issues with mobility simply don’t realise the struggle some people have to go through. And it’s a struggle that they have to live with each and every day.”
