Agenda item

This report sets out the basis of an issue raised by Cllr Osbourne.

Discussion:

Councillor Osborne outlined the background to his Member’s item.

He expressed concern that there was no advance warning given to service users that the disability mobility service would be relocated to a new site in the Pentagon Centre, nor was any consultation undertaken before the service was relocated, despite the Council having contact details for those registered to use the service. He pointed out that service users now had to travel further to use the service at its new location.

At the request of Councillor Osborne and, with the agreement of the Committee, Sue Groves MBE addressed the Committee and expressed concern regarding the way in which the change to the service had been handled. She advised that there were 146 registered users of the mobility scheme who were reliant on the service and to receive less than one weeks notice of the change of location for the pick up of a mobility scooter or wheelchair was unacceptable.

She advised that this service had previously been located in close proximity to the area of the car park where blue badge parking was located but that the new location for the facility was on the other side of the shopping centre. Many of the service users were unable to use public transport.

The Acting Assistant Director Front Line Services fully accepted that the service had failed to adequately consult on the relocation of the disability mobility service and he apologised for the distress that may have been caused to service users.

Attention was drawn to the contents of the written report which set out the reasons why the service had been relocated and the benefits that had resulted from the change to the way in which the service was delivered as follows:

·         Additional operating hours – 9.00am – 5.00pm Monday to Saturday

·         No closure during the lunch period

·         No advance booking required

·         The availability of holiday hire of scooters

·         Other disability services available that may be of interest to the service user.

The Director of Regeneration, Culture, Environment and Transformation stated that whilst it was accepted that the consultation on the relocation of the disability mobility service could have been better handled, this would be addressed by undertaking consultation on the new location for the service once the service had had an opportunity to bed in. He stated that lessons had been learnt from this and reassured the Committee that officers would always seek to improve and learn from any mistakes.

Sue Groves MBE also drew attention to a correction on the Diversity Impact Assessment attached at Appendix 1 to the report in that the legislation quoted should be the Equalities Act  2010. The Director of Regeneration, Culture, Environment and Transformation confirmed that this had been noted.

Decision:

The Committee:

a)            thanked Sue Groves MBE for attending the meeting and representing service users on this item.

b)            noted that after the consultation has been undertaken on the relocation of the disability mobility service, the outcome of the consultation will be reported to this Committee with such report to include information as to the range of those consulted and the date upon which the consultation took place.

c)            noted that officers have given an undertaking to review the legislation quoted in the diversity impact assessment for any future reports on this issue.

d)            requested that officers liaise with Members of the Committee on the proposed consultation plan before it commences.