10-level steel wheelchair ramp dumbfounds Dunbartonshire
West Dunbartonshire council's '£40,000' solution to disability access complaint leaves neighbours and Lally family dumbstruck


A ramp with 10 levels installed by West Dunbartonshire council at the home in Duntocher, Clydebank so wheelchair user Katie Lally, seven, can access her home. Photograph: Hemedia/Mark SutherlandHEMEDIA


The mother of a disabled girl has attacked a local council after it responded to her two-year campaign for improved wheelchair access to her house by building a 10-level winding wheelchair ramp covering most of her garden.

Clare Lally, 33, spent two years campaigning for improved access for her daughter Katie, seven, who uses a wheelchair, after the council gave them a home at the top of three flights of stairs.

But she was shocked at the solution, a £40,000 60-metre steel ramp which winds from the front door to the pavement.

Lally said that it was easier to transport her daughter but the scale of the construction was an eyesore. "There must have been a better solution. The council could have gone about the whole project in a more sensible way," she said.

"The council said this was the only option to fit something into the garden because of building regulations. It is a lot easier but I don't believe that the council weren't able to do something else. We weren't fighting for a massive steel ramp - we just wanted to improve Katie's quality of life."

The family's problems have been further compounded by youths now using it as a skateboard run. Council officials have refused to install a gate, citing health and safety concerns.

Katie suffers from bulbar palsy - caused by complications after she and her twin Holly were born prematurely - and is confined to a wheelchair.

West Dunbartonshire council have not yet calculated the cost of the ramp at the home in Clydebank, near Glasgow, but local builders estimate the cost at £40,000.

West Dunbartonshire council said the family had said they could manage the steps at the property. "This proved not to be the case. As they were existing tenants, it was the council's duty to make the necessary adaptations.. This led to the installation of the wheelchair ramp as requested by the family."

The ramp is so big that Lally cannot see the bottom of it from her front window. "What they have built is something which I would never have expected a local council to do. We have to open our blinds and look at it every day," she said.

Clare, who shares the home with partner Derek Steel, added: "We have waited so long for access and now we have got it. But we need to have a gate at the bottom. A lot of youths have started using it because they think it is fun to play on it.

"The council have said they can't give us a gate because it would block the public footpath. Is that the case for everybody else with a gate which swings outward? I don't care how the gate opens. I just want one put up."

Source:

Better pics but it's a Daily Fail article sorry..

WTF? Who in their right minds would even consider this an option? Has Common Purpose eroded the minds of so many of decision-makers? Councils are riddled with stupidity......

This cannot be an actual story...surely to god?

Someone got a kickback for that super ramp.

Would have been cheaper to frack the basement and wait for the house to settle at street level.

Unbelievable!

Husband works in structural steel. He said it'll be due to health & safety regulations, whereby there'll be some maximum slope gradient dictated as being acceptable for wheelchairs. He reckons a lift would have cost less.

Gilly wrote:
I thought the same...or they could have just moved them elsewhere?

It will all be nicked for scrap soon

Gilly wrote:
Elfen safety, gotta love it

The battery on her chair will run down before she gets to the top.

hugorune wrote:
She's screwed if there's ever a fire, anorl.

That's a very good point, Abs.

Gilly wrote:
Presuming there's nobody about to carry her out, I mean.

Yes, but even then, that person's got to do a weaving 60 meter sprint, or hurdle jump the bloody obstacle course.

Gilly wrote: I think they'd just hoof it down the concrete path and steps at the side tbf.

It looks as though she'd have to negotiate past those living room windows before getting any distance from the building. Otherwise, she wouldn't be any clear distance before hitting those steps.

Regardless...

EDIT: Particularly if we're talking health & safety. I know she's very young at present and unlikely to be left home alone, but I'm presuming they're now stuck there for a fair few years.

From the photo's it looks like it's closed off, but maybe a gate opens in it?

Gilly wrote:
Looks like there are steps down to the right from the door and ramp runs off to the left, adjacent to the frontage though which is still a bit...

Yes, but on the photo on this page, and the one that shows that area on the linked page it looks as though that's got the steel fencing blocking that off, so that that access would only be used to get to the side / rear of the house - unless it's gated.

Sorry to keep harping on it...but the house also appears to have those fire windows that open inwards so you can easily escape.

Presuming anyone, regardless of disability were trapped in any of the front, first floor rooms, they'd conceivably be left to burn or plummet down onto that metal monstrosity.

The more I look at it, the less sense it's making!