ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ

This is pretty much a run of the mill news story about planning permission for a wheelchair ramp being refused. Except for one rather odd aspect….

has reported that the manager of an Arts Centre in Grange has objected to the local council’s refusal to grant him permission to install a ramp outside his business.

The councillors’ concerns concentrate mainly on the planned ramp’s impact on the width of the pavement and on the business next door. Ok, so we may not like that, but we're unlikely to be surprised by it.

Councillor Tom Harvey, though, has an entirely different concern. He thinks late-night drinkers might use the ramp. β€œPeople will accumulate on there”, he said.

Erm, am I missing something here? As long as the business to which the ramp leads is shut for the night, what’s the problem with late night drinkers β€œaccumulating” on it? In what way is β€œaccumulating” on a ramp worse than β€œaccumulating” on a pavement? Is there something particularly sinister about ramp-loitering? Or is there something so unbelievably magnetic about a wheelchair ramp that it would prove an irresistible draw to every drinker in the town?

The last wheelchair ramp I saw was sort of grey and hard and slopey. Functional, yes, but not a thing of beauty. Now, I’m not one for hanging about town centres late at night with a bottle of something alcoholic in the hand I’m not using to prod someone repeatedly in the shoulder and tell them they’re my best friend. But if I were, I can’t imagine that my eyes would light up at the prospect of having a ramp to congregate on. Not unless it was fitted with comfy seating and potted palms, anyway.

If you’re aware of any other bizarre planning objections to adaptations which would make buildings more accessible, I’ve no doubt the Ouch team would be thrilled if you’d recount them in the comments on this entry.

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