Ealing North
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Steve Pound MP Ealing North |
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We must make Ealing Broadway station more accessible6 June 2006 - Local News Many of my friends who use wheelchairs have never seen the inside of Ealing Broadway station. How many of us who use the District or Central line to commute have ever tried to see our daily journey through the eyes of someone who physically can’t walk down a flight of stairs to the booking hall, another to the Central or Main Line platform – let alone manage the bridge and another set of stairs to get onto the District line? It will be immensely difficult to make Ealing Broadway completely accessible but that is just no reason for not doing our best (level best!) to ensure that freedom to travel is not conditional on the ability of the traveller to manage stairs and a bridge. Just take a trip to Ealing Broadway and imagine what it is like – not just for a wheelchair user – but for someone with a buggy or a suitcase. Once you’ve managed to get on the tube think about changing or getting back to street level when you’ve arrived. It’s not just difficult – it can be a sheer impossibility and that is just not good enough for a capital city in the 21st.centure. The “Gazette” has done a real public service in leading the campaign to achieve for all of us what some of us take for granted. It will be expensive; it may involve major works - including a possible re-opening of the old District Line entrance – but public opinion has changed a lot and a fully accessible ‘bus service has shown the way to the future. And shown many of my friends the way to parts of our city hidden from them before. It’s high time that the tube was opened up to all Londoners and physical apartheid ended. We’ve been waiting for a lift at Greenford Station for sixty years and it’s finally coming. Ealing Broadway shouldn’t have to suffer for so long. |
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| Disclaimer | Copyright | Designed by Bassam Mahfouz. Promoted by Julian Bell, The Labour Party, Ruskin Hall, 16 Church Road, W3 8PP on behalf of Steve Pound MP |
