‘Limited budgets stop local government ensuring accessible transport’

Building an accessible and inclusive transport system

Failing to sufficiently fund accessibility measures means local government may be unable to meet their legal responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010, states a new report from the National Centre for Accessible Transport (ncat).

Limited funding emerged as the main barrier to achieving accessible transport, said the Centre. Two-thirds rated limited budgets as an eight or above, with 32% assigning this issue a score of 10 out of 10.

The next biggest concern was retrofitting accessibility features into existing services, which received scores of seven or higher from three-quarters of respondents, followed by a lack of staff time and expertise, rated at least eight by 57%.

The Centre conducted a UK-wide survey of 42 local government transport staff whose work either focused exclusively on making services accessible or included responsibility for accessibility as part of a wider remit.

Its focus groups and interviews revealed that staff also needed better guidance to help them do their jobs more effectively. One interviewee pointed out that “dedicated funding pots [for accessibility] end up being spent on retrofit... Whereas what we should be doing is designing it in the right way in the first place”.

The report urges local and regional authorities to assess their “organisational readiness”, including reviewing whether their authority employs officers with a dedicated accessibility role and that they have the necessary resources and backing from their leaders to do their jobs.

Clive Gilbert, lead researcher for the Equipping Councils for Change report, said: “Building an accessible and inclusive transport system will mean ensuring local government is adequately funded. But local government staff also must be empowered to do their jobs effectively. They need to have access to high-quality training, good practice standards and, most importantly, the voices of disabled people, who must be involved in local decision-making at every level.”

The Centre is calling on the Government to create a single website where council transport staff and disabled people can find and understand regulations, guidance, case law and other resources relevant to making transport accessible. “This will allow visitors to grasp the responsibilities of the local government to provide accessible transport and discover the tools and good practices that they can use to meet them,” said ncat.

Equipping Councils for Change: Building local government capacity to deliver accessible transport with disabled people