Residents Planning Planning Permission Building Control Disabled Access Disability - Access Statements
Disability - Access Statements
Disability
Access Statements
Owners of properties open to the public or places of employment and other people such as architects need to be able to demonstrate that they have given proper consideration to access to the building, circulation within it and fire escape routes.
Access Statements are an opportunity to demonstrate the thinking behind the actions and to prove that the issues have been identified and resolved as well as possible.
Bigger projects will require more detailed statements.
Statements should contain the following elements:
- A brief explanation of policy
- The sources of advice and how they have been followed
- Consultations undertaken
- Professional advice
- Specific issues
- Management and maintenance policies
- A plan of the environment highlighting features
- An explanation of any variations from good practice that are necessary, the course of action taken and the steps taken to lessen their impact.
The document should 'grow' to reflect subsequent changes and developments.
The Access Officer can assist you in preparing your access statement.
The document might just be useful as a defence should you ever be challenged over an access issue. A section of recent legislation will require planning applications to be accompanied by combined 'design and access statements'. The method of implementation of this is under review. In building regulations, access statements can explain why a particular course of action has been taken when a non-standard solution has been necessary.
