to say did you see this story about the council building a 10 storey ramp for disabled access to a house?

[livelablove]

This is a mad one, what were they thinking? picture

I saw that. It seemed really odd. Why choose to do it like that ? Thats like climbing up a mountain! How steep is the garden to justify that monstrosity?

Crikey that's an eyesore.

Mind you I'm not sure how else they could have done it, it's quite a slope and would have been hard to have to push a wheelchair up a steeper ramp.

They should have just moved them into a different home.

WTF?

Why is this in aibu?

It is a news article so could go in In The News or Chat.

Why don't hq just rename the whole site Am I Being Unreasonable and have done with it?

It's a steep garden, it meets building regs. What else were the council supposed to do?

mintyy.
Used to annoy me too until I renamed aibu 'Chat 2" in my head. Now i see it as just general chatter about anything, it doesnt bother me.

The family had said they were quite happy as it was and could manage the few steps as they had before. But the council had had to put the ramp in because of the daughter's perceived needs, and because of the slope of the garden it had to be a ludicrous zigzag.

I'm all for H&S regs in general but automatic compliance without discretion is ... disappointing.

Its not THAT steep! Ive been in buildings on more of a slope than that with nothingnlike that ramp.

for me, the point is nobody stopped to think is this a sensible thing.

regardless regulations and paperwork, is it SENSIBLE? If not, what is a more appropriate solution.

It's frigging ridiculous!

It seems like a bloody punishment, not something to make your life easier.

The lady was fighting for it for two years. In my head I was thinking the council have gone "fine! You want a ramp. We will give you a fucking ramp!!! Take that!!!
"

It says they needed better access, council are obligated to make changes in line with building regs. Not really seeing how else they could have done it without breaking regulations.

I work as an accessibility consultant as part of my job and I can see the argument from both sides.
The Council - have to install a ramp with the correct & safe gradients to meet building regulations & to actually enable their use. Too steep and they are useless. They cannot fudge the rules. So they looked at the height they needed to cover, appropriate resting points and calculated what they needed as per their standard spec. This would have been done by a guy who just does ramps. What they didn't apply was any common sense.
What this house needed was a bit of lateral thinking. It is a very big step change in height to accommodate.
If it had been presented to me I would have looked at all the options from moving house to using a platform lift, a more attractive path or a combination. We would have looked at various options and costed them with the council and then the family.
Councils however rarely have the money to employ someone like me, which is a shame as we would probably save them money overall.

Yeah, wheelchair ramps have to be shallower than a 'direct to the door' ramp would have been. A clear case of be-careful-what-you-wish-for.

My mum's next door neighbour has a sort of chair lift thingy, which works for her.

that ramp comes across as a bit passive aggressive

Apparently all the local kids are using it as a skateboard ramp!!!

It might be building regs but it doesn't show any common sense and I think its a bit unfair on the little girl. Its like screaming "LOOK SHES DISABLED" at her every time they look out of the window :(

YY it is a PA ramp

I agree with Revolt.

I think this was a case of a council numpty thinking 'You want a fucking ramp. We'll give you one!'

It is kind of becoming the accepted norm that councils are full of numpties with zero common sense?, isn't it?

It's stupid - rehousing would've been a better option.

It wouldn't have cost them them that much more to build a bungalow! Then they'd have been able to house another family and would have two houses in the long run... Common sense that councils lack.

Pa ramp indeed!

Is all that fencing really necessary?

Some of the houses where I live have a really massive wheel chair lift in the front garden, not sure if that is any better aesthetically.

I suppose the obvious solution would be to move the family somewhere more suited to their needs, but they may not want the change in area, disruption, need to redecorate and settle in etc.

Woa! It looks like a queuing system at Alton Towers! What a ridiculous thing to do.

A house further down the road from me has an outdoor lift. Much more sensible.

wonkylegs What they didn't apply was any common sense.
What this house needed was a bit of lateral thinking. It is a very big step change in height to accommodate. Councils however rarely have the money to employ someone like me, which is a shame as we would probably save them money overall

Its a pity that the council employees, whose job it was to comply, weren't able to do so and to apply for a one-off exemption on reasonable practicability grounds from their own Building Regulation Enforcement Department. A definite lack of imagination shown there.

Its also unrealistic to think that there are lots of council houses available in hilly Dumbartonshire in the west of Scotland that would not pose similar problems.

I live not far from this family (same council) and tbh, not many council houses around here that are on 'flat' ground so I think the council done what they needed to do and build a ramp.
Surly the parents would have seen some sort of design plans before this was built, if she had this attitude then why did she allow it to be completed?

The council get a lot of slack from residents here. They all seem to have far to much time on their hands to moan about anything and everything!
I personally find them very helpful