Two decades after first calling on the Welsh Government to ensure that the lived experience of disabled people is embedded in the plans and designs for local environments and services, North Wales MS and Chair of the Senedd Cross-Party Group on Disability, Mark Isherwood, has today raised concern that this is still not happening.
Speaking in this afternoon’s meeting of the Welsh Parliament about the need to give greater influence over bus services to the people of Wales, Mr Isherwood told the First Minister that disabled people are still facing barriers because they are not being involved and asked why this is the case.
The First Minister told Members that the Welsh Government will bring forward a Bus Bill “to reform the failed system of deregulation” and that this “will enable all levels of government to work with our communities to design and deliver bus services they need”.
Mr Isherwood highlighted that the UK Bus Services Act 2017 introduced reforms in England seven years ago.
He added:
“Although it is now more than two decades since I first raised the need to embed the lived experience of disabled people in plans and designs for local environments and services, rather than creating barriers for them afterwards, I still regularly hear from disabled people that this is still not happening.
“Questioning you at the Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister meeting in Wrexham University last July, I referred to my meeting with RNIB Cymru, Vision Support and the VI Voices Campaigning Group Wrexham, people living with a vision impairment who want to raise awareness about the barriers they face, where issues raised included navigating Wrexham Bus Station, inaccessible transport touch screens and concerns that the Wrexham Gateway project, supported by the Welsh Government and, in principle, by me too, could create further barriers because they had no input into this.
“Arriva Bus have also raised concerns that they had not been consulted about this project, despite promotional materials showing one of their buses. Why, therefore, after all these years, are disabled people being denied greater influence over bus and other service plans and designs?”
In his response, the First Minister said:
“I'm afraid I can't answer in detail for how Wrexham Council discharge its responsibilities in this area, but I do remember the question that the Member put to me when I was in Wrexham and I remember agreeing with him, and I agree with him again this afternoon that, when services are being redesigned, when there are new facilities like a new bus station, of course the voice of the user, and particularly those users who have particular needs, those voices ought to be heard and they ought to be taken into account in the way in which those services are designed and developed.
“When we have greater control over bus services through the franchising model, it will be easier for us to make sure that those points are felt powerfully in the system. In the meantime, those who are responsible on the ground for changes to services and new developments, of course they should make sure that they consult with those local groups who have expertise to contribute, who have passengers who want to use that service and would be more likely to do so if those needs are properly taken into account.”
Speaking after the meeting, Mr Ishewood added:
“From his reply, who would know that his Welsh Government have been working with Wrexham Council to lay the ground on the Wrexham Gateway project since 2020.”