Sandbach is “not an accessible place” for people with disabilities, an Elworth mum has said.
The comment came after Coun Nicola Cook announced that £52,000 had been secured for improvements to Elworth Park, with plans to focus on new accessible play equipment.
The pot of section 106 money allocated to the project – funds provided by housing developers to support nearby amenities and infrastructure – has been building up since 2009.
Working in partnership with the Friends of Elworth Park volunteer group and Ansa, the Cheshire East Council company responsible for grounds maintenance, Coun Cook said they hoped to spend the money in the “best way possible”.
Becci Stafford, who is the full-time carer for her son, Lincoln, (10), is one of those working with Coun Cook to decide on what improvements will be made in the park.
She said: “Unless you’ve got someone in your family who has a disability, you can guess, but you don’t really know what’s accessible and what isn’t.”
Lincoln was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a life-limiting muscle wasting condition, at the age of two.
Mrs Stafford said: “He can’t independently do anything at the park. He can’t use the swing because he doesn’t have the strength to hold on.
“In order to get him on the slide, I’d have to carry him up the stairs, make sure he was holding on safely and then run back down to wait for him at the bottom, and it’s not very easy to do that with a heavy child.”
She explained that she had not been able to take Lincoln’s seven-year-old sister, Verity, to the park, because he could only sit and watch her play.
“It sounds really mean,” she said. “But it’s just so unfair to him.”
After taking her children to Victoria Park in Crewe – the nearest place with accessible play equipment – she found it unusable.
She said: “Sometimes places have a wheelchair swing, but they’re locked and you need to have a special key or code to use it, which you can never get hold of.
“At Crewe they have a big grey seat swing, which is good for disabled children; you can lift (them) into it, but the straps have been taken off. If I pushed it with Lincoln in, he would fall straight out.”
While sitting at a picnic bench to eat their lunch, she said Lincoln would have to sit to the side because there was no space for a wheelchair to be pushed up to the table – a problem she also experienced with her parent who used a wheelchair.
She said: “There are so many things in everyday life that you just cannot do, that you’re not included in.”
In his new motorised wheelchair, she said Lincoln sometimes had to be left outside shops in Sandbach because there was no accessibility ramp.
She said: “On the whole, Sandbach is just not an accessible place. It’s an old town, with cobbles and lots of the shops have steps.
“When we go into town, everyone knows Lincoln, and they all say hi. I used to be able to bump his manual chair up the steps but in his new electric one you can’t do that, so unless they have a ramp, he has to wait outside.”
In Congleton, the town council has been working closely with an equal access group to help people with disabilities to get around the town centre.
A survey carried out by the group reported that respondents believed 74% of residents had little or no awareness of issues surrounding those with disabilities, and only 2% were well-informed.
The town council said approximately one in four households in Congleton included a person with a disability.
Mrs Stafford said: “To me, it feels like people in the community don’t actually care that these children are a part of it, so this new equipment would be a big thing. It doesn’t have to be anything massive, just something where they feel included.
“There are roundabouts that have a space where you can wheel a chair into it, but other children can still use it as well.
“It’s important to me that although it’s disabled equipment, that other children can still use it. I don’t want anyone to feel left out.”
Coun Cook said: “Every child should be able to use a public park and play with their friends and family. No child should be excluded from play and this money will mean that for the first time in Elworth, children with a disability will be able to enjoy a park, which really will be for everyone.
“It is so important that we get this right, and I would be delighted if parents, carers or young people themselves would like to work with me, the Friends of Elworth Park and Ansa, to spend the money in the best way possible, and I would really encourage people to get in touch with me.
“It really is going to make a fantastic difference to our community.”
