[Forum] Disabled access to the Pavilion at Woy Woy has been made more difficult than ever with the current road works at Deepwater Plaza.
Nobody can use the access ramp in a wheelchair or scooter because it is surrounded by an inaccessible kerb and car parks.
Deepwater Plaza owns the car park and footpath and has previously flat out refused to fix it.
The question is: Will they fix the issue or just redo their road and leave 15 years of neglect and the kerb intact?
The lack of disabled access to the Pavilion in Woy Woy is in breach of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Disability (Access to Premises – Buildings) Standards 2010.
It is not accessible to anyone in a wheelchair, scooter or to mothers with large prams or shoppers with trolleys.
When The Pavilion in Woy Woy was wrongly approved by a private certifying body in 2005, Gosford Council allowed the development to proceed and, upon completion, neither were held accountable for not providing disabled access.
The owners of the Pavilion came up with an alternative access plan in 2007 that was never implemented.
The matter was raised several times to Gosford City Council since 2005 and, now the behemoth that is the Central Coast Council reigns, it seems nothing else will be done to resolve the situation.
The new owners of Deepwater Plaza are fixing the road, but will they fix the problem of no functional disabled access to The Pavilion?
It is time to finalise this important issue which discriminates against members of the community and also negatively affects the businesses within the Pavilion.
SOURCE:
Email, 13 Aug 2020
Mark Ellis, Woy Woy