Cairns Regional Council wants to know how Cairns can be a more inclusive and accessible place. The whole community is being urged to get involved through a new survey that asks people to rate facilities and amenities in Cairns.
It also seeks to understand the key issues and barriers impacting people with a disability in Cairns, as well as the ambitions of the community.
Acting Mayor Terry James said information from the 10-minute survey would be used to develop Council’s new Access and Inclusion Plan.
“Building on previous good work, Council is creating a new Access and Inclusion Plan and is calling for community input,” Cr James said.
“This is a survey for all the community, but we are particularly interested in hearing from people with disability, as well as carers and family members of people with disability.
“The survey asks people to rate the accessibility and inclusiveness of Council public amenities such as footpaths, parking provisions, public toilets, playgrounds and parks, as well as libraries and sporting and community facilities.
“We want to build on the Access and Inclusion Plan 2017-2021, which resulted in real progress in improving the capacity for people with a disability to access our services, facilities and information.”
The Access and Inclusion Plan 2017-2021 included almost $900,000 on capital projects to improve access within the community, such as the beach wheelchair program, installation of more than 300 braille and tactile street name signs, a new ramp into Tobruk Memorial Pool, northern beaches disability seating areas and new accessible park furniture, over 25 new CBD car parks, and two accessible adult change rooms at Woree and Smithfield pools.
The Disability Access and Inclusion in Cairns survey is available on the Have Your Say page and closes on December 17.
