Articles

Exploration of the foregoing Plane tree fiasco, revealed at least three fundamental and unacceptable deficiencies with the town streetscapes and infrastructure:

1. The footpaths are unsafe by today’s standards
2. The stormwater drainage system is outdated and inadequate
3. There are insufficient public parking facilities

The following articles look into the relative standard of public access and walkability around the town, in respect to compliance with current codes, regulations, recommendations and 21^st century expectations of amenity.

The first of these is a report requested by the town Progress Association to examine grave concerns expressed by numerous residents when striving to get into the Council Office for official business.

Council Public Entrance

Introduction

The attached Disable Access – Conformance Assessment records the findings of an inspection carried out to check out problems experienced by residents when approaching and using the public entrance of the recently built Council offices on Elizabeth Street. A survey was requested by the Maitland & District Progress Association (M&DPA), at their meeting on the 16th March 2017.

There is a notable increase in depth form the bottom of the brickwork to the footpath in the above photo, indicating the rate of slope!

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Note: Double-click on any picture to enlarge.

The inspection confirmed the configuration of the public footpath on Elizabeth Street did not comply with recommendations in the Australian Standards for a disabled accessway, whilst at the rear of the building is a fully compliant ramp with landings provided for staff, and unused.

The following recommendations were urged to secure the safety of our communities’ vulnerable when attending to Council issues:

1. Clearly delineated ramps and walkways to be provided not less than 1000mm wide, with crossfall not greater than 1:40 and incorporating landings on ramps or walkways at distances no greater than specified along a line of travel.
2. Ramped sections to have handrails and kerbs in accordance with the standard as necessary.
3. The footpath between the dedicated accessway and the kerb may be battered to satisfy the difference in levels and enable stormwater drainage to the street water-table. Refer Sketch 2 indicating Good Design
4. A level circulation space to be provided in front of the outward opening swing doors in accordance with Figure C1(d).

The Appendix to the report contains a number of photos to record the problems and to clarify the proposed modifications.

Correspondence

The President of the Progress Association submitted the Report with a covering letter to the Operations Coordinator on 21/07/2017 with the following email:

Also attached is new correspondence re the paving outside the Council Offices. We have been working on this for some  time and [Councillor Stock] has probably told you it was coming. Basically [it] comes from repeated concerns about negotiating the cross falls on the new paving with wheeled mobility aids. Some relaying of pavers against the building would probably fix it quite cheaply.

Some months later on the 14/09/2017 the Manager of Operations acknowledged receipt of the submission as follows:

Sorry for the delay in this responses , … In relation to the offices Paving , …Council will undertake our own investigation in relation to this & check  current levels & undertake works where we deem necessary. Thank you for bringing this to our Attention & we will be in touch in due course…

To date there has been no reply from the council and no apparent attempt to rectify the problems. Furthermore there is no evidence in the public records that the submission was ever put before the Elected Members at any meeting, albeit the President’s email indicated that the local councillor was aware of Progress’ concerns.

Which leads on to the sad aspect of this review, that some impacted stakeholders of the community (to use council jargon) have now passed away without getting the equitable consideration they deserved. It does however shed light on an insensitive bureaucracy with a culture of indifference and willful blindness.

Current thinking in relation to National and State policies on the treatment of pedestrian facilities and the various user groups has been included in the report, and for information has been restated below under the heading of Footpaths.