Architectural barriers: N.C.C. wants action

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32873, 23 March 1972, Page 6

Architectural barriers: N.C.C. wants action

“We are not just asking that this be brought to people’s attention — we want action on architectural barriers,” said Mrs G. M. Samson, president of the Christchurch branch of the National Council of Women, at the monthly meeting recently. Many architects did not realise the importance of ramps and easily managed doors to people in wheel chairs, she said.

Asking for urgent action on architectural barriers, Mrs C. J. Ashley said: “Building standards have been passed covering this, but what is the good if the regulations are not enforced?” “We are not certain about access for the handicapped to the Christchurch Town Hall,” she said. “There are only two picture theatres in Christchurch with places for

means that if you are in a wheelchair you are often deprived of going to the movies unless you comply with their requirements that persons in wheelchairs be lifted into seats because of the fire haz ard.” Lifting a person back into a wheelchair would seem to constitute more of a fire hazard than being able to run with a wheelchair down a ramp. The Government had not seen that all its buildings had easy access. A notable exception was the Whangarei Post Office. In the United States, it was an offence to build a structure for public use without easy access.

It was suggested that electronically operated doors be fitted in public buildings. These had proved very helpful at a suburban shopping mall where women in wheelchairs had expressed gratitude at being able to move in and out of the building, with their shopping, without assistance. A remit will be sent to the national executive in Wellington asking the Government that it make it mandatory that all new buildings, buildings under construction, and those undergoing major alternations used by the public be accessible and usable by handicapped persons and the elderly, including persons in wheelchairs. Letters expressing the branch’s concern about architectural barriers will also be sent to local councils, the New Zealand Institute of Architects, and the New Zealand Master Builders* Association.

Church Union.—The series of four pamphlets rejecting the revised plan for church union, which was the subject of an article in "The Press” on Tuesday, was published by Selwyn Publications, and not the Selwyn Society in Wellington as reported. The Bishop of Nelson (the Rt Rev. P. E. Sutton), who wrote the first of the pamphlets, said that Selwyn Publications had been formed by a group of Anglican writers in troth the North and South Island, who were publishing the pamphlets to show what the Anglican Church stood for and to examine the revised plan for union in this light • -