TR13 Requirements for Disabled Access Policy
The Local Planning Authority will ensure that consideration be given to the need to provide full access for disabled people to new public highways, pedestrian priority areas and to all developments to which the public would normally expect to gain access.
Reasoned justification :
15.43 The Council is committed to promoting access to public buildings and facilities for disabled and other mobility-impaired people, beyond that required by existing legislation. Considerable progress has been made in recent years. This policy will continue in the planning of all new developments and will be expanded to encompass the alterations and adaptation of existing buildings to provide access for disabled people. Similarly, the design of pedestrian priority areas, provision of car parking spaces, and the provision of leisure facilities, will take into account the needs of disabled people. Detailed provision will be the subject of negotiations with developers under separate legislation.
15.44 Revised national planning policy for Transport (PPG13) particularly emphasises reducing the need to travel, both for reducing costs and congestion, and for reducing pollution emissions to the atmosphere. The UDP emphasis on urban regeneration with its attendant emphasis on land allocations and redevelopment within the existing urban area is consistent with this aim. The UDP in particular advocates developments in close proximity to the Borough’s main transport corridors, both road and rail, and therefore envisages efficiency and environmental concern in addressing people’s needs for mobility.