Parking row continues as disabled man calls for changes (From Warrington Guardian)

Parking row continues as disabled man calls for changes

A CONTROVERSIAL car park has come under fire from disabled users as well as parents taking toddlers to nursery -despite changes made to benefit them.

As reported in the Guardian previously, a row of spaces in the car park at Kingsmead Square that were reserved for either disabled users or parents with children have been altered to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act, leaving only three parent and child spaces and other spaces just for disabled users.

But the layout of the car park, with disabled spaces closer to the nursery than the shops, has been criticised.

Kingsmead resident Peter Caldwell, 57, who suffers from MS, said: "Disabled spaces near the nursery are not much good - they are further away from the shops and it's quite a long walk for me."

The change has forced parents to park further away from the nursery and struggle across the busy car park with their toddlers, prompting fears that there will be an accident and Peter can sympathise with their predicament.

He said: "They have got a point and I understand their problems.

"It's better for me now there are spaces purely for the disabled, but the design of the car park is what's wrong.

"With a bit of common sense, they could have kept more of us happy."

A Sandiway parent who uses the nursery said: "Is there any reason why disabled spaces need to be located directly outside the nursery?

"Why not retain the desired number of disabled spaces but locate them elsewhere in the car park?"

A spokesman for Legat Owen, managing agents for Kingsmead Square, said: "That end of the car park is where the kerb has been dropped so disabled users can get onto the path and it's nearer to public amenities like the doctors and chemists."

He also said that Legat Owen was looking into extending parent and child spaces.

gbebbington@guardiangrp.co.uk