Environment Audit CommitteeWritten evidence submitted by East Lancs Board Members of Lancashire Local Involvement Network (LINks)

Question 1

No people cannot get to key services at a reasonable cost in a reasonable time and with reasonable ease. If someone has a free pass cost is obviously not an issue but for fee paying passengers costs are unreasonable. Transport links are poor and services ie bus and rail services are not joined up.

Question 2

Yes, other policies are affecting the accessibility of public services and the environment. The various agencies do not speak to each other when plans are at concept stage ie Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust is planning a new build in Blackpool (The Harbour) and will include provision of specialist in-patient beds for the whole of Lancashire. Some areas of East Lancashire already have inadequate transport links which are expensive and for some people having a relative in hospital in Blackpool will be a step too far for them resulting in less frequents visits to their loved one at a time when a patient is in unfamiliar surroundings and at time when they need the comfort and reassurance of family and friends who the patient is familiar with. A round trip to Blackpool from Bacup is approximately 100 miles.

We are also advised that under European legislation all bus drivers have to undergo disability awareness training by 2015. It appears that a lot of operators are choosing to delay training their staff as late as possible resulting in problems for some people with disabilities.

Question 3

No not all public services are in places easily accessible by public transport. Due to funding issues some organisations ie Job Centre’s have closed down in smaller areas of East Lancs and moved to larger towns. Some residents of East Lancs who need to access these services are already struggling financially and do not have money to take longer, more expensive journeys to where the organisation has relocated.

Question 4

No, environmental impacts are not considered by planners or organisations when planning where to build/position public services but we recommend that it should be. The example as given in the answer of question 2 above is also a good example of where environmental impacts are not considered.

Question 5

No, we do not think that accessibility of public services is considered when planning local transport links and we do not believe that the Department for Transport has taken forward the accessibility agenda. For example the transport organisations who appear to be deliberately delaying training staff re disability awareness training as outlined in answer to question 2. Some passengers would be afraid to voice their concerns for example to a bus driver for fear of being asked to leave the bus. This is not just about people with a disability; it is the elderly, young mothers with shopping and a small child in a pram and people in general who use public transport.

Question 6

The measure of how accessible public services are by transport is that no one person is penalised by not being able to use public transport for what ever reason ie disability, young mother with a child in a pram, the elderly etc etc.

Question 7

We see no evidence that social and accessibility needs are considered when planning transport infrastructure and see no reason why either would conflict if consideration was given at the planning stage.

Question 8

Yes, a measure would be useful. This would include wide scale surveying. Consideration should also be given regarding cost of travel ie looking at all types of transport the public use and looking at the average cost of travel versus the average family income in different areas. Lots of people who use public transport are on minimum wage or unemployed making the cost of using public transport a major consideration for them.

Question 9

Absolutely not, the question pre-supposes that everyone has access to the internet which they do not.

3 September 2012