One user says sloping and uneven surfaces outside the library are an additional obstacle for visitors with disabilities.
Photo / Bevan Conley
One user says sloping and uneven surfaces outside the library are an additional obstacle for visitors with disabilities.
Photo / Bevan Conley
A library user and mobility cardholder has raised concerns about the placement of new mobility parks at the Whanganui District Library at Pukenamu Queen's Park.
Whanganui East resident Dave Partner said the two recently installed parking spaces at the corner of Cameron Tce and Pukenamu Drive have imposedan "additional obstacle" for library users who have disabilities.
Mobility cardholders previously had an allocated space in the library carpark which is now being used by contractors working on the Sarjeant Gallery redevelopment project expected to take three years.
Partner said the placement of the new parking spaces increased the distance for people with disabilities and created other challenges.
"Before there was a distance of about 10m from the car park to the entrance over an even surface," he said.
"Now it is a distance of around 40m where people with disabilities have to negotiate the pathway from the parking area which slopes in two directions and then the uneven footpath."
Partner asked why the four 30-minute parks and the five-minute loading area at the front of the library on Pukenamu Drive had not been converted into two mobility parking spaces.
A library visitor believes the temporary mobility car parks at Whanganui District Library are unsuitable for people with disabilities.
Photo / Bevan Conley
"That would seem to be the sensible option," he said.
"I doubt that someone using a wheelchair would be able to negotiate the sloping and uneven surfaces.
"It is a serious health and safety concern in my opinion."
Whanganui District Council libraries and communities manager Pete Gray said the placement of the temporary mobility parks had been assessed by a road safety engineer.
"The engineer says placing the mobility parks – which need to be wider than regular car parks – directly outside the library entrance would be potentially hazardous for mobility park users entering or exiting their vehicles, given the width of the road and its use by construction traffic associated with the Sarjeant Gallery redevelopment project," Gray said.
"We now have two temporary mobility parks. The old carpark had one. Once the redevelopment is complete, the library carpark will have at least two mobility parks."
