Over 20 volunteers gathered at the Guildhall in Bath on Saturday, 13th May, to launch the new Accessible Bath project, in a bid to improve information on wheelchair accessibility across the city.
The volunteer group, which consisted of people of all ages including long-term residents, students from Bath Spa University, wheelchair users and stroke survivors, began mapping areas of the city throughout the afternoon.
Groups were asked to visit various locations across Bath, and add a rating, photograph and any additional comments/notes that would be useful to visitors, to a special app which can be used to map the wheelchair-friendly locations.
After four hours of hard work, the volunteers were able to increase accessibility coverage from 33% of the target area, to 57%, with 683 ratings being recorded. This means that the groups helped to map 20% of the city in just one afternoon.
You can see the current status of the project on the progress chart here, which provides a number of ways for you to explore all of the the information collected.
A stroke survivor who attended the meeting was John Carr and his wife Fiona. John, 58 and a resident of Bath, had a stroke in 2013, and attends the Stroke Association Communication Support Group.
He said: “I think it’s only fair that people in a wheelchair who live or visit Bath, can access the city like everyone else. I’m really looking forward to helping to create a map to help wheelchair users.
“It’s exciting to be part of something that can help others in a similar position to myself.”
Organisers are hoping to maintain their current momentum so they can achieve their target of 100% coverage by the end of October.
Keep an eye out for news of their future mapping events, as they’re hoping to run another one during the summer.
