Access for All

To begin with, we have searched for relevent sites on the web.

The Allotments Regeneration Initiative site has lots of useful information and factsheets and we are contacting the East of England mentor to get advice specific to our project. Watch this space for the results of that.

Fred's Shed is a site run by Fred Walden who's aim is "... to find and develop the best tools to enable anyone to work to the best of their ability." A wheelchair user, Fred has some interesting insights into the benefits or otherwise of raised beds and tools.

http://www.carryongardening.co.uk is a site by Thrive, a charity whose aim is to change the lives of disabled people using gardening).

The first area we want to address is wheelchair access as this will determine path widths and routes. At present, we don't envisage that the whole allotment will have all-year-round wheelchair access due to the cost of providing suitable paths.

Regarding path width and turning circles, we have found WHO figures of 900mm and 1500mm respectively and need to check those.

Regarding path surfaces, we don't want to use materials that will have a permanent effect on the allotment - for example loads of concrete or ashphalt. There are a number of plastic products (with varying degrees of recycled material in them) from companies like Boddington's that look promising and we need to try to assess which would be most suitable - perhaps they''ll provide samples? Prices vary from about £8/sq.m. to £16/sq.m.