Portobello Beach: disabled access project

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[JoeM]

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Here are some photos by Duncan Priddle (East Lothian Council Rangers) of the construction at Yellowcraig dunes:

[Poppy]

Or at least a write up in tonight's EN!!

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[Bob Jefferson]

Great to get some much-needed publicity. Shame we didn't get the full page we were promised, particularly as we had plenty of high-profile supporters lined up with quotes, but it didn't help that Jane Bradley (who was to have written up the story) got promoted to the Business section. I haven't seen the paper copy - did they include a photo?

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The second photo illustrates a nearby ramp that can be used with help, but that stops abruptly in sand. Easing the gradient would lengthen it a little and continuing it onto a pathway along the wall would be somewhere to sit comfortably on the beach, and enable a person to get off the beach again! Unfortunately that photo also shows the scruffier part of the seaside scenery so I've begun with a shot of the sea and one of the highest tides this year

[rapunzell]

Have you seen the second comment on the online Evening news article?!

Wheelchair access aside, I wonder what makes that man imagine that all people with wheelchairs or walking canes etc don't have jobs or careers? (including far more important jobs with much more responsibility than his own, perhaps...)

[Bob Jefferson]

Yep, just reported as unsuitable.

[rapunzell]

I think he is entitled to air his views, though I don't know the criteria for manners on Evening News online.

I didn't try to explain things to him through the comments option as he didn't seem like the sort of person who could take on information. He's making himself look stupid, which might actually be quite useful.

[Bob Jefferson]

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Here is a photo of the kind of non-slip wooden boardwalk surfaces the Forestry Commission uses, demonstrated here used in a treetop pathway.

Thank you to Dr Geoff Freedman, Head of Design at Forestry Civil Engineering for the use of this photo. (I'm keen to see more - I had no idea these sorts of things were being constructed around Scotland!)

[Maria]

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[Bob Jefferson]

[Denise]

oh yeah! Largo bay sailing club used to have rubber mats from the car park to the hard sand (below high tide mark) for wheeling dinghies down on trailers. I'll try to make some enquiries there too.
D

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[Denise]

[Izzie]

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[Bob Jefferson]

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[Bob Jefferson]

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Well, it didn't rain! I met Alan McGregor (CEC Access Officer) and Phil Clarke (Technical Officer, Paths for All Partnership) on the prom this afternoon and we had a very constructive and positive discussion!

It looks as though we've established where we are heading next and how best to get there. Apparently there will have to be a council audit of the prom entrances and a *lot* of paperwork and inter-departmental applications and meetings before ramp alterations can begin unfortunately, but the good news is that there should be more funding available in the end.

Phil has already been working on pathway construction designs and is going to have it made up. We can then install the first two trial sections and watch what happens to them. It is unlikely that beach maintenance can be increased much, but it is possible that pathway check-ups can be incorporated into exisiting routine maintenance. That is one of the things that will come up as the council discusses it. The pathway trials can begin before the ramps are altered, but at ramps that are the least steep.

The other thing that Alan is looking into is how to ensure that the entrances are not completely blocked over the winter, especially as the concrete blocks may arrive at any moment and just be arranged the same way as last year unless he intervenes.

I think that's almost everything for now!


Here's a photo of what else was happening on the beach this afternoon:

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[Maria]

Bravo Rapunzell! OK so it may take longer than we'd like, but it all sounds so positive. I spoke to Izzie at the CC meeting on Monday and I can just imagine how she will greet your news!

Well done you!

[rapunzell]

Thanks!

Alan McGregor has been in touch to say he's talked to the head of City Development (the department responsible for the integrity of the sea wall) Those guys are about to begin a large survey of the sea wall regarding its function as a sea defence and sand perimeter, and we should try to attach a survey of the sea wall gaps as access points in themselves to that. Then, when they begin repairs and alterations they have to incorporate access needs too.

This department is also responsible for the beach wall blockades over the winter, so in the meantime Alan is trying to ensure they leave gaps for beach access. They have agreed in principle, but sand containment seems to be their only interest, and the construction crew may just put the blocks in the same place in usual, or leave gaps in unhelpful places, in which case we've to report it and get them to change it.

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I emailed Andrew Holmes, the Director of City Developments the other day after reading 'North West Portobello Master Plan - Study Framework' and he replied today to say he'd passed on my concerns to the people working on the project.

I hope they make the amendments to the plan; access isn't an extra for afters like choosing where to put litter bins. If it isn't at the front of the designers' minds it won't be in their heads at all.. I know most of Edinburgh is off limits as it is old and full of stairs, and that can't be helped, but when it comes to designing new things, especially public areas, they should make a bit of an effort to do it properly.

[Izzie]

What a work you are putting into this Morag

K has not been to well these last few days and had a stay in the hospital

She has told everyone about this and the kids started to call it Morag's Path

Then they started to make plans for the opening off the pathway.Wheelchair races to the water and then a big BBQ at the water.

I think they wanted the BBQ in the water until one bright spark told them you can't light a fire in the water but

We can all dream though

You are making kids dreams come true Morag,thanks from alot off people