A DISABILITY campaigner called for widespread change across the city on Monday. 

Kez Adey, a disability adviser and campaigner of Wheels of Freedom, has used a wheelchair for more than ten years and spoke about the numerous challenges she faces when trying to travel around Salisbury.

From cracked, broken and narrow pavements, to potholes, dropped kerbs, overgrown tree routes, and inaccessible buses, Kez highlighted multiple areas where improvement was needed to enable people with disabilities to travel independently.

Kez’s powerful speech at a full meeting of Salisbury City Council on Monday was the culmination of a year’s worth of audits with at least one-third of council members accompanying her, examining the accessibility issues in their respective wards.

Kez said Wheels of Freedom began after government cuts continued to negatively affect people’s social lives after the end of the COVID lockdowns, further isolating people, including those with disabilities.

Her first goal is to bring the issues to the attention of those who do not have to personally face them. 

Kez said: “If you’re not disabled, you don’t know what it’s like.”

Councillor Corbin Corbin said problems have been identified in her ward of Bemerton Heath in the past during an audit attended by her current mayor Tom Corbin years ago, but progress has been slow.

Cllr Corbin said: “Clearly, there’s a long way to go. As Wiltshire Councillor I intend to pick up those things and forward them on. But I’ve already highlighted at both levels money is very tight. It can take years for change to happen, which isn’t actually acceptable for the disabled community.”

As an example of the speed of progress, Cllr Corbin said that she and cllr Tom Corbin have been campaigning for a 20-mile-per-hour zone to be installed on the estate where they live since 2015.

Cllr Corbin said Kez has become very important in bolstering accessibility as a priority in Salisbury.

Cllr Corbin said: “I really, really do praise her and thank her for bringing it to the forefront and actually it should never have been put on the backburner. A marginalised community such as the disabled community deserves to be sort of considered in the round as a normal thing, not having to stand there and put their hand up and say ‘Hey, I exist!’”

Another cllr - newly elected Lynne Blackwood - spoke on how she walked with a walking frame instead of her wheelchair because she couldn’t fit the latter onto the pavement from her front garden.

Cllr Blackwood said: “Being disabled myself, having worked with people who need to be included with visible or hidden- invisible disabilities, I find that what [Kez] put forward was really great.”

Many of the problems mentioned by Kez on Monday are the responsibility of Wiltshire Council. 

Cllr Dr Mark McClelland, cabinet member for transport, waste, street scene and flooding, emphasised that Wiltshire Council takes accessibility issues very seriously, and encouraged residents to use the MyWilts App to report problems and concerns which may be missed during inspections.

Cllr McClelland said: “While most situations are identified as part of our inspection programme, we do recognise the fact that there are certain highway features that can present problems for wheelchair users, particularly in a historic city such as Salisbury, that are not identified as a defect.

"An example of this would be kerb heights at crossings or the lack of dropped kerbs. Our Local Highways Footway Improvement Groups can provide an avenue of funding to carry out minor improvements to address this type of issue.”