Ipswich councillor Sam Murray calls for Ipswich Borough Council to install a wheelchair swing at one of their play parks

An Ipswich councillor has started a petition to install a wheelchair swing in one of the town’s parks.

Sam Murray, Conservative councillor for Ipswich Borough Council, said she has been fighting to improve accessibility for disabled children through a wheelchair swing for over a year, and the petition is designed to gain public backing.

Councillor Murray said: “The excuses have been ridiculous. It hasn’t been about the cost, but the idea that it wouldn’t be inclusive as an able-bodied person could not use a wheelchair swing.

“A resident contacted me when I was first elected in May last year, to say that Landseer Park did not have a wheelchair swing.

“I asked the council about wheelchair swings in Ipswich parks and didn’t hear anything back.

“I met with the relevant officers and I’ve basically been hounding them for over a year now, just to try to get one wheelchair swing.

“They have now said they are looking into it, but I haven’t received any confirmation that they will install one.

“The Thomas Wolsey Ormiston Academy is in my area, and there are children at this school who use a wheelchair.

“I have a disability, and I sometimes use a wheelchair and sometimes don’t. This has shown me the difference in experience between able-bodied and disabled people.

“The installation of Castle Hill Recreation Ground has begun without a wheelchair swing in the design, as I requested.

“However, I have been informed by the parks department that there would be space to add one retrospectively.”

The petition has over 200 signatures at the time of writing and can be signed here.

Wheelchair swings typically have a platform large enough to fit one wheelchair, and some include a rope for self-propelled swinging.

Labour councillor Phillip Smart, portfolio holder for Ipswich’s strategy for play areas, said: “Officers are currently evaluating where it might be best to put a wheelchair swing.

“It seems councillor Murray has a particular park in mind, but we’ve got an ambitious programme in the upcoming years for upgrading play areas and we need to find the most appropriate place.

“We are probably not going to be able to put one in every play area.

“For instance, we may have to look at the parks with accessible Changing Places toilet facilities. There are a few of these in the town now, so a park which either has them or has the potential to include these toilets would probably be most appropriate.

“The answer from the council is definitely not ‘no’.”

Changing Places toilets are designed specifically to be accessible for people with limited mobility.

A new strategy for play areas to be implemented between 2022 and 2027 was adopted by Ipswich Borough Council in March 2022.

It earmarks 12 play area sites for improvement. Castle Hill Recreation Ground is one of three designated for improvement between 2022 and 2023; the others are Alderman Road Recreation Ground and Fen Bright Circle.