Pensioners in Brighton and Hove could soon be able to use purpose built garages for their mobility scooters.
Brighton and Hove City Council has set out plans for a series of secure parking blocks complete with electric charging points.
It wants to start a pilot scheme by building two of the garages at its sheltered housing in Leach Court, in Park Street, Brighton, and Clarke Court, in Walsingham Road, Hove, which would hold 14 scooters between them.
If they were successful more facilities would be built elsewhere in the city.
The council’s cabinet member for housing, Councillor Maria Caulfield, will take the final decision on whether to go ahead with the pilot scheme at a meeting at Hove Town Hall today.
If approved the project would be funded using a reserve of £100,000 the council has set aside for “mobility scooter storage solutions”.
The proposals include charging mobility scooter riders a weekly service charge of £4.50, which the council hopes to reduce once the pilot has shown the exact running costs.
The scheme has been proposed, in part, in response to health and safety concerns about mobility scooters being parked in communal areas of housing blocks.
The council said that they had been identified as a fire hazard.
Green Party convenor Councillor Bill Randall said that the council should promote the wider introduction of shared mobility scooters among older and disabled tenants.
He cited schemes set up by sheltered housing tenants at Jubilee Court, Moulsecoomb, and Leach Court near Queen’s Park.
“Older people account for more than 50 per cent of the council’s tenants and their number is growing.
“Mobility scooters could help many of them and disabled tenants maintain their independence.
“But providing storage for the growing number of scooters could prove expensive and impractical.
“The introduction of shared scooters could overcome this problem and, more importantly, make scooters available to those older and disabled people who need them but cannot afford to buy one.
“Furthermore, regular maintenance of scooters could be ensured under a shared scheme.
“Tenants with their own scooters would not be affected, and there might be future tenants who use scooters heavily who need their own.
“However, shared scooters could provide an alternative and affordable solution.
“We have a precedent in the shape of the city’s car club, which is one of the most successful in the UK.
“Let’s transfer a road-tested idea to mobility scooters.”
Sorry, but I believe that a large majority of wheelchair users are just lazy fatso’s, staying mobile to justify their inflated benefits . They should be encouraged out of them, not molly coddled with more services….
It would seem that Robert Latimer has no understanding of the problems involved with getting old, nor of the bravery shown by most elderly people as they struggle to maintain their independence in the face of declining powers.
Shirley Kingsly,
I have no understanding of getting old because I stay away from doctors and hospitals, and don’t take prescribed drugs? I just keep myself as fit as possible and eat small amounts of proper food, no processed rubbish….My next birthday is my 70th!!!
Long may you continue in good health. Many of us these days keep a good fitness regime, but the effects of aging comes to us all eventually no matter how hard we work to keep it at bay. There are many things that can cause loss of health including hereditary illness, so rather than triumphing over your own good fortune perhaps you could feel a little compassion for others who have been les fortunate.
Shirley Kingsley
I am very sympathetic with the way all the old folk have been slotted into their little compartments, and encouraged to be sick and get sicker, by Government reps, and pharmaceutical giants. The medical profession is a ‘business’ first and foremost. Therefore it is their interest to keep the ‘money’ rolling in. Most of these ‘little schemes’ have a hidden agenda that profit the bureaucrats suggestions.
Agreed, there are a lot of highly dedicated professionals out there that do actually value life, but there is also a lot more quangos, managers and bosses who only ever care about what goes in their back pocket…
Unfortunately our system is the capitalism that you seem to dislike so much, and it influences every aspect of life including the encouragement of masses amounts of processed foods which are so devastating to human health. Capitalism also brings about the unfair disribution of wealth which makes those at the bottom depend on the handouts which you so dispise. What you need to work against therefore is capitalism itself and help bring about a fairer, healthier country where handouts would be unneccessary. You should try the websites landisfree.com and landvaluetax.org for some alternative ideas.
Shirley Kingsley
I’m not against capitalism, just against the selfish prigs that control it all. They think they own all and everyone, and can do just as they like to all and everyone to increase their ill gotten gains….Well, they Can’t anymore, because there is a very powerful movement of fit healthy youth that are intent on enforcing change to the age old meaning of ‘capitalism’. The selfishness and the greed must be removed from society before a serious revolution destroys all that we hold dear????
Well here is something we can agree upon, that greed could lead to something that devastates our society.
Shirley Kingsley