There are 700 car parking spaces in the town core of Westport, of which 31 are disabled car parking spaces. Nineteen of these spaces are fully accessible for wheelchair users. The remaining 12 are ambulant disabled car parking spaces, provided for non wheelchair users.
This information was released by Westport Town Council disputing information circulating about the number of disabled parking spaces in the town.
“In recent years Westport Town Council has placed a lot of emphasis on improving access for all in the town. This is evident in the environmental improvement works which were carried out on Bridge Street and Shop Street, and the proposed works on Mill Street scheduled to start later this year. These works provided for additional wheelchair friendly pedestrian crossings and additional disabled car parking spaces,” a spokesperson for the council has outlined.
“Additional building works were carried out to the Westport Civic Offices including a wheelchair accessible counter. The town council has also worked with other public bodies including the Post Office to make their buildings universally accessible. The town council has invested in excess of €100,000 in these works since 2005.
“An external access audit was carried out on behalf of the town council in October 2007. It is estimated from the audit that almost €2 million will be required to make the town universally accessible. This will clearly take a number of years to deliver. The works identified in the audit will be carried out on a phased basis subject to the availability of resources. All works carried out to date have been carried out in consultation with the National Disability Authority who are the lead state agency on disability issues.”
The town council owned Westport Leisure Park has invested significant resources on improving disability access in the centre. The work undertaken in the centre received national recognition in 2008 through the centre winning a National Disability Authority Award. Westport Leisure Park was the first leisure centre in the country to receive such an award and the excellent facilities provided were again recognised in 2008 when the centre was declared overall national winner of the Disability Provision Category by ILAM.
“The town council has worked hard during the term of this council to improve accessibility in the town core. We are satisfied that Westport is not just Ireland’s tidiest town but that we are also among the most accessible towns in the country,” a statement from the council concluded.
