Transport for all are calling on the Government to restore deferred rail accessibility funding, and to commit to funding the Access for All project beyond 2019.
Over twenty years have passed since the rights of disabled people to access goods and services were passed into law – yet still many of us cannot use our local train station. Only 1/5 of stations in the UK are step free and the majority of stations do not have lifts, tactile paving, audio visual information, induction loops or the other fixtures that enable disabled people to use them.
Access for All projects have provided vital accessibility upgrades to stations across the UK. It has helped to open up vast swathes of our railways to many people who have never been able to use them before.
The decision to defer £50m worth of Access for All funding for another five years is amajor blow to rail access. Disabled and older people can’t be expected to defer their lives for another five years while accessibility funding is raided to plug holes elsewhere in the Network Rail budget.
TfA is a registered charity No.1063733 and a company limited by guarantee No.3337948
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We the undersigned call on the Government to reverse the shameful decision to defer £50m of vital CP5 Access for All projects, and to ensure that the project continues to be funded in Control Period 6 and beyond. *