Hansard

The concept of people first and of ensuring that they are able to get to parts of our country for holidays is complex and difficult to achieve. However, the disposable income of the grey pound, which has been recognised, and, increasingly, the disposable income of the disabled pound, can bolster many local services and businesses if the welcome includes making it easy for the less able to arrive.

People with disabilities being able to get to parts of the country that I represent is perhaps one of the challenges that a number of members have already mentioned. I will take that point forward in two ways. First, I will refer to a book that was written in 2002, which is called, “The Creaky Traveler in the North West Highlands of Scotland: A Journey for the Mobile But Not Agile”. The book recognises that there are a range of abilities, which we are talking about today. It talks about the kind of facilities that were required by an American couple, Warren and Gerda Rovetch. They were at the less disabled end of the spectrum. Nevertheless, what the book showed was that many people are needful—that is a really good Americanism, I suppose. People are needful at various levels of requirement. The book identified the kind of things that would make it possible for people like that couple to enjoy a holiday in bed and breakfasts and so on, and the kind of facilities that they would require.

I will return to those issues in a minute. However, in order for people to get to places such as the north-west, they have to travel using their own transport or by public transport and, as was mentioned earlier, that is where some of the major problems lie. Of course there are low-entry buses in the cities—indeed, there are such buses in the city of Inverness—but getting access to those buses in the north-west of Sutherland, where there are very few transport links, is a huge problem. Bus route development funds should have ability issues built into the way in which the money is given, not just in the cities. That would ensure that the buses that Stagecoach, for example, has told us it uses are available for routes outwith the large centres, so that people can have access to them. However, it is very difficult for someone with a wheelchair to get on to a coach, which is the more likely form of transport. The Stagecoach coaches have a lift mechanism, but they have timetables to meet and it is quite time consuming for anyone to access a bus in that way.

When we look at the rail situation, there are many non-staffed railway stations in the north and in the west. We are talking about a lack of aid to help someone with a mobility problem, except for the staff who are on the train. We have to ask ourselves whether it is possible for people with mobility problems to travel to such places when the nearest railhead to Assynt—I will talk about Assynt in a minute—is some 30 or 40 miles away. We are talking about whether there is someone there to help when those people want to use a train. That issue has to be dealt with in the staffing policies of ScotRail.

The third aspect concerns CalMac ferries in particular, and indeed the ferries for the northern and southern isles in Orkney and for Shetland. I am sorry that Liam McArthur is not here at the moment, but I am sure that he would agree that the older ferries have very poor facilities indeed for people with mobility problems. Work needs to be done on those ferries—a major catch-up is needed in order to make them disability friendly in terms of disability discrimination act issues. However, new ferries will be disability friendly, I hope. When we finally see the new ferry to Stornoway, the Loch Seaforth, which is a couple of months late, I hope not only that the electrics will work but that the lift systems will be properly accessible.

Turning to facilities, which have been talked about, I want to mention a place that I visited when it was opened in 2006—the all-abilities path at Leitir Easaidh in Little Assynt, which is in the far north-west of Sutherland. The pathway was completed in 2005 and officially opened in May 2006 by Jamie Andrew, a mountaineer who was badly frostbitten and lost his limbs. The path came about through the hard work of the Culag Community Woodland Trust. Leaving the new all-access car park at Leitir Easaidh near Loch Assynt lodge, the pathway, which is suitable for those in wheelchairs as well as those of limited mobility, leads to two lochs along a well-made and carefully graded trackway. At each of the two lochs, there is a picnic area with composting toilets that are accessible to those in wheelchairs, a shelter and a jetty to give access to boats for fishing. There is disabled angling access, with two boats that people can be aided on to in order to partake in angling.

That is an example of a project in the far north-west of Sutherland that allows people with a range of abilities to access such things. It suggests that we need to ensure that transport provision makes it possible to easily visit the accommodation and places that Euan’s Guide identifies.

To take a point that Patricia Ferguson made, people, including people with disabilities and their carers, can benefit spiritually from the intangible and tangible cultural elements on holidays. That is the great possibility that comes from visits to places such as Little Assynt. Indeed, the creaky travellers that I mentioned benefited from that—the information on the book states:

“Celtic history and tradition comes alive as our hosts meander their way along.”

What an opportunity there is to see something uplifting, and people of all abilities should be able to access that. As the debate has shown, we are on the way, but we are not there yet.