Creating an accessible city where everyone’s included

The City’s plans to make the Gold Coast more accessible and inclusive took a major step forward today, with full Council approving the draft Accessible and Inclusive City Action Plan 2020-2025(AICAP).

Mayor Tom Tate said the plan was the City’s blueprint to make the Gold Coast more accessible and inclusive for everyone.

“Disability affects one in five of us. Our vision is to create a city where everyone’s included so we all have the same opportunity to enjoy the Gold Coast’s enviable lifestyle,” he said.

The AICAP builds on the successful foundations of the City’s inaugural plan, which delivered more than 170 actions over five years to improve access to City information, infrastructure, programs, initiatives, public places and transport.

Mayor Tate said the second plan outlined more than 100 actions over the next five years which would help to remove barriers to community participation, including using best practice design principles.

“In the first phase we delivered initiatives like beach matting, improved public toilet facilities and parking bays, and recharge bays for mobility devices.

“Some of the actions planned for the second AICAP include more Changing Places toilet facilities at public locations, the dementia-friendly Seniors Garden, identifying locations for accessible waterway recreation, building five accessible cabins in tourist parks and producing a mobility map for the Coolangatta precinct, to name a few.”

Mayor Tate said with the first plan well informed by community engagement, this draft plan will go out for community consultation from November 2019 to January 2020.

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