Inclusive Communities Strategy working well

Thursday, 16 September 2010

Good progress has been made on the action points included in the Southland District Council's Inclusive Communities Strategy.

Group manager environment and community Bruce Halligan said the strategy was created after submissions to Council's Annual Plan asked Council to look at issues relating to people with disabilities. Council decided to widen the strategy from people with disabilities, to making our communities more inclusive for all, with the focus being on people with disabilities and ethnic minorities.

The draft strategy was sent out to various groups with positive feedback received and then staff set to work.

"We have put some good runs on the board, including the following:

  • Incorporating disability awareness into the Council induction programme
  • Reviewing Council's website for ease of use and e-government standards
  • Including a list of Southland District walkways, parks and areas of interest that have wheelchair access on the website
  • Gathering a register of interested people/groups to consult with regarding inclusiveness
  • Undertaking an accessibility stocktake of townships, council facilities and community housing
  • Training the building team on barrier free building
  • Incorporating disability access into the parks and reserves policies
  • Building a list of individuals and groups who can help communicate with customers in sign language, Braille and other languages, for example
  • Reviewing disabled parking through the District

These items and more are either well under way or finished," Mr Halligan said.

However, it is important that Council continues to review the relevancy of both the strategy and the action plan, and after 18 months of them being in place, it is a good time to do so now, he said.

"We are looking at what we have done and what we could be looking at in the future and we want input from the community. Things we could consider are a seniors' council, getting grants for providing wheelchair-accessible swings, making equipment available or IT upgrades for a talking website. Obviously we don't have funding for everything, but we still want to hear from you.

"We want to hear from people and groups in the community about what they want and/or think Council could do," he said.

Feedback can be sent to Inclusive Communities Strategy feedback, Southland District Council, PO Box 903, Invercargill or emailed to ics@southlanddc.govt.nz by 29 October.

Who to contact

If you would like to discuss a matter on this page, feel free to contact us:

Southland District Council
P.O. Box 903
Invercargill 9840
Phone: 0800 732 732
Fax: 0800 732 329
emailsdc@southlanddc.govt.nz