A DETERMINED town councillor has lobbied Worcestershire County Council to drop a Great Malvern kerb ‘in the appropriate place’.
Coun Martin Lawrence has called for the already lowered kerb on Belle Vue Terrace to be re-positioned as it is not in line with the disabled bay on the town road.
The current drop is at the front of the parking spot, but Coun Lawrence said he is unhappy as a hydraulic ramp on any disabled vehicle is at the back, meaning access on to the kerb is still a problem.
“The only thing to do is drive up the road, reverse if possible and go against the traffic on the wrong side of the road and park in a posotion to lower on to the newly created dropped kerb,” Coun Lawrence told The Observer.
“I am calling into question why public money has been wasted on the dropped kerb by the disabled bay in the position that it has so been dropped.
“I ask for the county council to correct the positioning of the dropped kerb and further request for appropriate dropped kerbs between Nationwide and the Foley Arms and the work urgently carried out.”
Coun Lawrence is keen to have the accessible pavements throughout the Worcester Road in Great Malvern as he said it was ‘immoral’ and ‘unjustified’ for people with mobility issues who struggle to use them.
Coun Ian Hopwood, county councillor for the Langland division, assured residents the authority would act on the concerns in July last year and helped get the lowered pavement installed.
Coun John Smith OBE, Worcestershire County Council’s cabinet member for highways, said: “The work was carried out following a request from Coun Ian Hopwood, on behalf of a local disabled driver.
“After full consideration of the situation, the dropped kerbing was positioned to make it easier to manoeuvre a wheelchair from the pavement into a parked vehicle.
“If it had been positioned at the other end of the disabled parking bay, it was considered that this operation would potentially be obstructed by adjacent parked car.
“It does mean that the vehicle has to approach the parking bay and park facing the opposition direction, which is not an unusual situation.”
