Reflections on accessibility at Woods Mill

Kai Hilton

Communications Officer - Design & Visitor Experience 

In February, we were really pleased to meet Letty Raby. Letty is a Surrey University student and a birder. They are also a wheelchair user - and they agreed to talk to us about how we might improve access on the reserve. We were hugely grateful to Letty for giving up their time to help us to work out how we can make Woods Mill a more accessible destination for people with mobility challenges.

These were their observations:

In general, Letty talked to us about how important it is that we are mindful of people with energy limiting conditions

Transferring from a car to a wheelchair can be physically exhausting. When a location is advertised as 'accessible' but turns out not to be, it can make an already demanding journey even more frustrating and tiring for a disabled person, who arrives only to find they cannot access the space.

General Woods Mill issues

• The disabled toilet door in the car park opens the wrong way (inwards, which means you can't manoeuvre when inside in a wheelchair).
• The path surface is not adequate for wheelchair users
• Other parts of the path are too muddy
• We need to offer a more compact surface that has better drainage
• An outdoor hose to clean wheels would be extremely useful 
• They explained that some of the slopes are too challenging
• You can get picnic benches with a gap for wheelchair users
• The width of the paths is some places is quite tight

Woods Mill hide

• The path leading up to it is too muddy
• The boardwalk width is too narrow for wheelchairs to turn around
• A movable bench would make it easier to manoeuvre
• It would be helpful to offer benches with a back or an option of a folding chair for people who struggle to hold themselves up
• A rail on the side would aid people with standing and sitting down

Disabled Parking

• Currently situated in the wettest part of the car park
• It is angled downward, which makes it difficult for wheelchair users
• There are no white hashes on the ground for wheelchair space – when Letty visited, there were three spaces next to each other. If three wheelchair users parked there, they wouldn’t have adequate space to get out of their vehicles

Website + Interpretation

• We need better detail on maps, both online and on site. Including: We need to add distances and scale, the number of gates plus width and style of the gates, what the ground material is, plus informaqtion on benches
• There should be two maps online, one standard, one with accessibility details
• We should offer information about gradients
• We need to give clear and detailed accessibility information on webpages
• We could provide POV walking videos of each trail, which great for knowing how accessible a location is for an individual. Plus helpful for people with anxiety and those who are autistic.

General points

• Kissing gates are impossible for wheelchair users
• Heavy gates can be challenging for some
• Gate latches with springs and long handles can also be challenging to push, standard gate latches are generally easier for most
• If using ramps made from wood, make sure there is some sort of grip, because they can be slippery when wet
• If there is a ramp with a door at the top, the door should be a push door

Mobility scooter hire/Trampers (Rye)

• Being able to book mobility scooters in advance is preferable, because people could be travelling from far away. So first come, first serve is off-putting and risky. It can be someone’s only way of accessing a reserve.
• We should attach a tracker e.g. Apple Airtag for safety, in case someone is lost or stranded

Useful resources

Doc M – Government website, explaining legal accessibility requirements and measurements

AccessAble – Application used to find accessible places

Actions taken or in progress:

• The disabled car parking spaces have been repainted
• The disabled loo door is being changed
• Increased detail online outlining accessibility for reserves is in progress
• POV video is being made, walking you around the reserve for the website (helps people know how accessible it might be for them, as well as it being useful for people with autism or anxiety who feel more comfortable seeing somewhere before visiting)
• We will discuss resurfacing path options with Site Manager Ryan Allison 
• Update to main entrance/online map will include distances of trails, increased font sizes, clearer map icons, frequency of benches etc