Labour’s controversial decision to close Lendal Bridge may be open to legal challenge according to opposition councillors.
Liberal Democrat Councillors have revealed that the decision to close the city-centre bridge was taken before an assessment of the impact it would have on disabled residents was completed.
City of York Council’s own guidelines say that ‘Community Impact Assessments’ (CIAs) should be done at the development stage of any policy and before any decision is taken. However, the CIA on the closure of Lendal Bridge was only completed on the 12th September – a full two weeks after the closure started and months after the decision was originally taken in May.
Cllr Nigel Ayre, Liberal Democrat Councillor for Heworth Without, commented:
“A full assessment should have been carried out prior to the Cabinet meeting in May when the decision to close Lendal Bridge was taken. Having asked for a copy on the 6th of September I was finally presented a report dated 12th September. This was after the decision, after the closure started, and crucially only written after I had asked for a copy.”
Cllr Lynn Jeffries, Liberal Democrat Councillor for Westfield and Group spokesperson for Equalities, commented:
“The Labour Council has a moral as well as a legal duty to ensure that its policies do not negatively impact on the most vulnerable in York. By not carrying out an assessment before taking the decision to close Lendal Bridge it failed in this duty.
“The Council broke its own guidelines and this calls into question whether the decision to close Lendal Bridge was actually legal under the 2010 Equality Act. After the cuts in social care, reduction in accessible parking spaces, banning of blue badge holders from the city- centre and abolition of the cross-party equalities working group, this once again shows Labour’s complete disregard for the welfare of the vulnerable in our society.
“This decision will have a huge impact on disabled residents. Labour Cabinet Members celebrated the opening of West Offices last week, but have ignored the fact that the Lendal Bridge closure means vulnerable residents using the accessible parking spaces at West Offices have seen their journey times tripled at a stroke.”
Community Impact Assessments (CIAs) consider the impact of council policies, processes and behaviours on residents and staff from relevant community groups based around factors such as age, disability and gender.
Council guidelines say “the assessment should be done at the development stage of any policy, review, project, service change etc, before any decision is taken. It should also be done every time there are changes to policies and practices, before the changes are finally agreed by decision makers”.