Councillor Goddard, seconded by Councillor Wilkinson, proposed his submitted motion as set out in the agenda and briefing note.

In the debate Council requested that checks on compliance with standards and that height restricting barriers met the requirements for accessibility for large WAVs were carried out for its own car parks, and noted that the County Council would be asked to take steps to improve advance notice of the height restrictions in the Westgate car park.

After debate and on being put to the vote, the motion was agreed.

Council resolved to adopt the following motion:

Council believes that disabled people should have the same life opportunities as all. In that context, Council notes concerns about aspects of access to the Westgate centre for disabled people. In particular, Council notes:

1)    Difficulties of access to the centre's car parks for specially adapted vehicles for disabled people due to low headroom at car park entrances;

2)    unhelpful placement of notices about the low headroom meaning that difficult manoeuvres are needed to reverse from the car park entrance;

3)    the limited disabled parking available near the Westgate centre;

4)    wider concerns about the placement of usable taxi ranks in the vicinity of the Westgate centre and about the size of some of the lifts within it.

Council resolves to mandate the Leader and Chief Executive of the Council to contact the Westgate Alliance to instigate discussions over how to further improve access for disabled people to the Westgate centre, and to ensure that such concerns are fully factored into the Alliance’s plans for the Castle Quarter.