Pembroke slipway becomes more accessible with ramp
PEMBROKE slipway is more accessible after work to create a continuous ramp was completed.
Agriculture, Countryside and Land Management Service supported The Wooden Spoon charity’s Beach Wheelchair Scheme to provide better access for wheelchair users, people with mobility impairment, and pushchairs.
Now planning permission is required for a beach wheelchair storage hut.
Wooden Spoon chairperson Karen Solway said: ‘we have completed all pre-planning stages and are ready to submit our application as soon as the planning department re-opens. Ideally everything would have been ready for this summer but, with the expected backlog, now it could be 16 weeks away.’
Until permission is granted the hut cannot be ordered.
‘ACLMS have been so supportive of this project, and suggested the hut go where there used to be a whoopie float rental hut. We hope to position it as conveniently and safely as possible. Because it is a highly weathered and popular area, it needs to be durable, fire-proof and vandal-proof. In a few years’ time we don’t want to have to replace it.’
Each specialised wheelchair costs in the region of £3,000.
Roughly £10,000 of the £16,000 target has been raised.
The States of Guernsey agreed to prioritise improving the quality of life for disabled people in 2013 with the Disability and Inclusion Strategy.
An ACLMS spokesperson said the cost of the slipway improvement work is in the region of £7,000.
The project was undertaken by Geomarine.
On neap tides the smooth ramp was formed in April.
Two weeks’ ago the slipway was extended by 2.5m as it was too short and created a drop.
‘This drop would have been uncomfortable for wheelchair users and children in buggies.’
An official opening is due next summer but beach wheelchairs may be available for winter use on request.
n Email guernsey@woodenspoon.org.uk or call Karen on 07911 741097.
n Visit giving.gg/donate/event/5871/Guernsey-Beach-Wheelchair-Scheme to donate.
