A LOCAL charity says it is ‘disappointing’ that plans to improve disabled access at two popular visitor attractions have been shelved.
The McLean Museum, pictured, and the Watt Library were to be made ‘fully accessible’ to people with disabilities and ‘designed with disabled users’ needs in mind’ as part of a project launched by Inverclyde Council two years ago.
But the Tele can reveal that the proposals have been ‘suspended’, as local authority bosses have been unable to source external funding.
Carol Kearns, a project manager at Inverclyde Council on Disability (ICOD), is dismayed by the news.
She said: “It’s really disappointing as people who are disabled have the same fundamental rights as the rest of the community.
“We have a social group who go on outings once a month but we have to go to museums outwith our local area in places like Glasgow and Edinburgh because of the lack of disabled access at these facilities.
“Although the McLean Museum has disabled access on the ground floor there is no access for wheelchairs and scooters on the upper level.
“We can’t see certain exhibitions because it’s not accessible – it’s a shame.” Carol says she will contact the council about the situation and will also speak to ICOD board members.
A council spokesman stressed that efforts are still being made to secure cash to take the project forward.
He said: “This is an important historic building and clearly pre-dates the current requirements for disabled access.
“Any work requires to be sympathetic to the history and comply with the Disability Discrimination Act. “This is why we included improvements to disabled access in the latest Heritage Lottery bid. “That bid wasn’t successful, unfortunately, and we are examining our options on whether we can make a further application for Heritage Lottery funding and would expect that to include disabled access.”
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