Disability advocates fear a new multi-storey car park at Ballarat Station with no lifts will be difficult for people with wheelchairs and walkers to navigate.
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The car park is part of the more than $50 million redevelopment of the Ballarat Station Precinct, which was signed off in October by Heritage Victoria and Planning Minister Richard Wynne.
Grampians disAbility Advocacy board member Shirley Mitchell said the lack of a lift between floors will not just impact disabled people, but also people who are injured or pushing prams.
“Those ramps can be steep, so it’s going to be very difficult for people in wheelchairs to push themselves up, or even get up an incline with assistance,” she said.
“A lift is absolutely necessary in the car park, so we should fix it now, instead of having a conversation in ten years time about what we should have done.
“Ballarat is growing so quickly, you’ve got a lot more people to consider, and there will be more people with access requirements in the future."
Construction of the 405-space car park near Nolan Street is set to begin before Christmas.
A spokesperson for Pellicano confirmed there would be no lifts, but said ramps complied to the Disability Discrimination Act.
Ballarat’s Save Our Station action group is staging a disability access rally today at 10:30am, highlighting the problems faced by people crossing from Platform 1 and Platform 2 using the heritage footbridge.
The group is calling for the creation of lifts and an underpass, creating a shorter walk and protection from the weather for those who have accessibility requirements.
Councillor Belinda Coates said the issues around the footbridge not being DDA-compliant had been raised in every City of Ballarat Disability Advisory Committee submission to the government.
“All new works associated with precinct will meet regulatory requirements, but there’s no certainty of a potential DDA retrofit of the overpass, and our committee is very passionate about this.”
Mrs Mitchell said the walk to avoid the footbridge wasn’t safe for everyone.
“We need to have that looked at, if it’s really cold, wet or hot, it’s not good for elderly people,” she said.