Southland man wins access case

In January this year, we ‘blogged’ the story of the Southland District Council’s failure to comply with regulations, in regard to access to the Riverton Focal Point Viewing platform. http://drcsouth.blogspot.com/2008/01/riverton-viewing-platform-fiasco.html.

Peter Dolamore, a qualified Barrier Free Advisor, assessed the platform for accessibility and found it non compliant with the Building Code and yet the Southland District Council had approved Building Consent for the structure. Peter forwarded a full report of his findings to the SDC who argued that they did not have to include access to the top level platform for wheelchair users because the view wasn’t any different up there! Southland DPA members and other disabled people checked out the platform themselves and found that there clearly was a difference.

The Council’s tokenistic response was to issue a notice to fix some of the ‘minor’ problems but flatly refused to admit that they had breached the Building Code by denying wheelchair users access to the top deck.

Peter, with the support of DPA members and other concerned groups and organisations, decided that the only way to resolve the issue was to apply to the Department of Building and Housing for a Determination. Changes to the Building Act in 2004 gave disabled persons the right to apply for a Determination where they believed their access rights had not been respected. Peter is the first disabled person in New Zealand to take a case to Determination according to Alexia Pickering of Accessible Options who says “From the beginning it was important that this one had a positive result.”

We are thrilled to be able to report that the Determination supported Peter’s case and found against the SDC.

The Department found that “the viewing platform as presently constructed does not comply with Clause D1.3.2 of the Building Code” and “the authority’s (SDC) decision to issue a notice to fix that excluded a requirement to provide wheelchair access to the top level of the viewing platform is reversed.”

We can certainly celebrate this victory and congratulations must go to Pete for his dedication in seeing this through. So, we can expect to see ramp access to ALL levels of the Riverton Viewing platform in time for summer? Well perhaps. Apparently the SDC, whilst acknowledging the decision that they were in error for granting the original building consent, are still bleating on about the Determination and, according to the SDC Manager of Building Control, Kevin O’Connor, the Dept of Building and Housing has not adequately grasped that any proposed changes will require a separate building consent!

Could it be that the SDC are worried that ratepayers may ask why this huge stuff up happened in the first place? Who is responsible for this and what action is being taken to ensure this does not happen again? What would happen if Joe Public tried to get a Building Consent for a non compliant building? One would have to wonder if any of the SDC staff involved have even completed a Barrier Free Trust Course?

Questions, answers and comments welcomed...