 |
PRESS RELEASE |
|
Wirral celebrates Beacon Status Award and ‘commendation for excellence'. Liberal Democrat Cabinet Member for Streetscene and Transport Services, Councillor Jean Quinn, represented Wirral Council at a ceremony in London on Tuesday to receive the award of Beacon Status for Accessibility. Councillor Quinn said, “It's been a privilege to be part of the team taking the Accessibility Strategy and Beacon Application forward on behalf of Wirral and Merseytravel. “The application has involved a lot of work for the team but this makes it all worthwhile.” The Beacon Status application was submitted under the theme of “Improving Accessibility.” Merseyside's vision for its award-winning Accessibility Strategy was to ‘overcome transport barriers which impact on an individual's ability to access job opportunities and the essential facilities they need', addressing the affordability, availability and accessibility of transport of those suffering the most from social exclusion. The Strategy focussed on improving transport access to: job opportunities; health facilities; education training and learning, especially for young people over 16 ‘not in employment, education or training' (NEETS); and improving people's diets through access to fresh food. The Local Transport Plan (LTP) Partnership, comprising Merseytravel and the five Merseyside authorities, considered that Merseyside's Accessibility Strategy was a strong candidate due to good partnership working and the success of innovative projects such as ‘Work Wise' and ‘Travel Teams', and the work undertaken to improving accessibility to employment, education and healthcare. Councillor Quinn continued, “It was this partnership working, along with excellent public consultation and engagement which gave rise to the special commendation. The success of the Strategy has been proved in outcomes, for example, 79% of WorkWise clients stay in employment or training after receiving support”. The LTP Partnership will now be expected to share their experience and expertise with others and develop a co-ordinated programme of learning events and support activities. The Beacon Scheme was established to spread the benefits of the innovative, high quality services being delivered by local authorities in rewarding the best and sharing best practice. The Beacon Scheme is now in its ninth year. Anyone wishing to find out more about ‘Work Wise', the ‘Travel Team', ‘Dial a Link', ‘Scooter Commuter' or any of the other accessibility projects can contact Julie Barnes, Wirral Council's Accessibility Officer on 606 2004.
|
