We spent Friday running an event at the Council aimed at developing a Movement and Access Plan for the City, and I wanted to blog on it as it was a really positive thing to have done. The mood around the place hasn’t been the best, mostly due to some quite difficult cuts to jobs as a result of the Government settlement. Anyway, the event brought together about 100 senior staff and members of the community to consider our understanding, needs and opinions of travel across the city, whether it was by foot, car, metro or other types of transport.
What was more gratifying was that the event was aimed at improving one of the levers to better outcomes for people, rather than the outcome itself. Although access (as well as being important generally), underpins things like inclusion and opportunity, it’s not often Council’s and other organisations run events dedicated to looking at these things. Here’s a quick snapshot of our Chief Executive presenting on why getting out and and about is important:
The next step is to make sure all the comments and feedback are followed up and incorporated. The best things about these events is that some of the ideas come out of no-where and you wonder why they haven’t been thought of before. For example, one suggestion that chimed with me was tying the Self-Directed Support agenda into the Council’s taxi contracts so that those that receive support are entitled to cheaper taxis. It’s one of those everybody wins scenarios: Taxi drivers do more business, the council reduces its overall taxi bills as the fare rates go down, and most importantly, those with disabilities have a more cost-effective way of accessing the city…
Those ideas are priceless and make the whole event organisation worthwhile, and I’ll do my best to keep you updated on developments…
