These are some comments I have received:
“Not all the elderly or disabled have a driver to ‘drop’ them off. Some are still able to drive, and definitely need a parking space.”
“I was surprised not to see any mention of bicycles as a means of transport to church.”
“Our village has few parking spaces, especially at weekends, and with no church car-park it can be a long walk.”
“Our church has a rolled sandstone car-park, and an area of plastic-coated steel under the grass.”
DISABLED people who live in your neighbourhood or parish, and who might attend church, should be able to find suitable access when they arrive. Planning for this can be difficult, but we have to do the best we can.
Disabled-accessible lavatories, for example, should these days be able to accommodate large electric wheelchairs, and those very steep ramps that no one in any kind of wheelchair should use unassisted should be avoided. These issues will continue to be a challenge.
With regard to parking, there are clearly schemes where parking surfaces can be less obtrusive, but it may always prove difficult where there are ancient gravestones. A couple of bays for the genuinely disabled will usually suffice, as long as you can keep the able-bodied from filling them.
Give considerable thought to an integrated access plan, so that, for instance, parking ramps, and other means of access, are not at opposite ends of the building. Start from the viewpoint of giving disabled churchgoers the best possible approach, and then modify it only as necessary, to accommodate the historic and structural issues.
Television advertisements encourage us to help reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere by cutting five miles’ driving from our average weekly total. Perhaps it is time to consider addressing these particular issues as part of our spiritual discipline rather than depending on government action.
Equally, I have heard news reports that suggest that 60 per cent of us do not believe that the human contribution to global warming is significant: if that is the case, then perhaps people’s behaviour can be changed by addressing health issues. If a church decided not to provide parking spaces, for example, it might encourage us — if not for environmental reasons then for health reasons — to get out and walk, or cycle.
Ultimately, in the tension between preserving the heritage of our ancient churches and their churchyards, and adapting them for use by local people, I find that the argument for disabled access justifies careful intervention. I do not find the same justification, however, for damaging the environment of the churchyard for parking for the able-bodied.
Your comments and questions to: maggie.durran@virginmedia.com