The council was asked whether it was failing to meet its equalities duty because “unsafe” parking bays leave much of the seafront inaccessible to wheelchair users.
The problems arose when the new “temporary” seafront cycle lane was created last summer.
Disability campaigners from Brighton Access for Disabled Groups Everywhere (BADGE) were horrified to see disabled parking bays by the Peace Statue were off-set away from the pavement, with the cycle lane between cars and the kerb.
BADGE campaigner Pippa Hodge raised the problems with members of Brighton and Hove City Council’s Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee at Hove Town Hall.
She highlighted video surveillance of the seven bays on the A259 showing a wheelchair user forced to travel into the cycle lane to reach their vehicle, swerving bikes.
She said that five safer bays were promised on the north side of the road in March but since then nothing had happened.
She said: “Under your Active Travel Scheme ‘our’ seafront remains inaccessible for a second summer.
“Do councillors find it acceptable that 10 months later officers still haven’t addressed these grave concerns?”
She queried whether the council was in breach of its own “equalities impact assessment” to protect disabled access and safety.
Risks were identified 10 months ago, she told the committee, and councillors had not acted on BADGE’s feedback.
Green councillor Amy Heley, who chairs the committee, said that there was no change to the number of disabled bays as a result of the new cycle lane.
She said that some of the disabled bays were off-set from the kerb with extra space on either side for safety reasons.
Councillor Heley said: “We do recognise that while this does recognise the design standard, people do still need to take care when near vehicles or when passengers exit vehicles due to the location.
“We do recognise why it is still dangerous for some users. We are currently investigating additional parking bays along the seafront to further improve access.”
Residents and businesses in the area would need to be consulted before any extra bays were added, which Councillor Heley said would take time.
Article originally appeared on Brighton and Hove News.
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