Big hurdle for disabled people at Sheepscombe Drive flats

Flats in Sheepscombe Drive in Warndon, Worcester have ramps and handrails and other features for disabled people in the back garden.

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However, the door is too small for wheelchairs and mobility scooters to negotiate, making a nonsense of the other safety and disability-friendly features says a city councillor.

Wheelchairs cannot get over the ledge/lip at the bottom of the door (Image: Jill Desayrah)

Other issues include a lip at the bottom of the communal door at the back, making it difficult for wheelchairs and mobility scooters to get in and out.

The door also opens inwards instead of outwards, adding a further hurdle, while a communal 'garden gate' which has been padlocked has also been raised as a potential problem during an emergency. 

One resident - Lesley Myatt - said while all residents had keys to the gate itself only she had a key to the padlock and it was kept locked at night.

Ms Myatt, 61, who has mobility issues and walks with crutches, added: "I'm stubborn and I'm trying to avoid getting a mobility scooter. But I would have a scooter here if it was more scooter friendly."

LOCKED: The gate is locked at night (Image: Jill Desayrah)

Resident Ms Myatt has received support from her councillor, Jill Desayrah, who has written to Platform Housing.

Cllr Desayrah added: "There's a ramp. Why when you can't use it? All that expense for a ramp you can't use. How are you going to get over that in a mobility scooter?"

She wrote to Platform, telling them: "The provision of accessible emergency exits for those who are disabled is wholly inadequate in all three blocks of flats in Sheepscombe Drive, Warndon. 

"Emergency exits should be accessible to all residents but the sole route of exit to anyone unable to negotiate the lip on the rear door, (which also opens inwards instead of outwards), is through a garden gate that is padlocked."

She added: "It is a potential death trap. There's an emergency escape route disabled people can't use."

Lisa Fairlie, Director of Housing Operations at Platform Housing Group, said “We are sorry that Ms Myatt is experiencing problems, which we were sadly not aware of.

“The flats at Sheepscombe Drive are general needs homes that do not have appropriate scooter storage facilities. Our local neighbourhood officer will visit Ms Myatt to discuss their housing needs and how we can support them.

“We have also raised a repair for the security gate to be inspected to see if the existing padlock can be replaced with a keypad.”