Southampton Accessibility Forum - Terms of Reference

Background

Southampton City Council (SCC) has an ambitious programme to develop the current travel and transportation network. This aims to meet the needs of all people living, working and visiting Southampton. SCC will develop schemes and travel programmes through a process of design, consultation, implementation and monitoring. The council works on these in partnership with other groups, such as neighbouring authorities, public transport operators and large employers e.g., the Port or the Universities.The council is seeking funding to deliver this programme - SCC needs to capture the views and support from across the community so that it can win funding bids and deliver on the anticipated outcomes and outputs To get input from people with diverse experiences and awareness, an Accessibility Forum has been formed to ensure that all users are able to take part in scheme and programme development.Membership of the Accessibility Forum comes from key stakeholder groups to embed inclusive design principles in the creation of schemes and to ensure all residents, businesses and visitors can feed into consultation on proposed schemes regardless of disability.The Forum will be able to recommend/suggest measures to SCC that will balance the needs of businesses, users, residents, and other stakeholders, with a particular focus on those with extra mobility needs or disabilities that affect their movement through the city.

Purpose of the Accessibility Forum

The overall purpose of the Accessibility Forum is for Southampton City Council (SCC) to engage and work collaboratively with a wide range of organisations/stakeholders on making Southampton’s transport network as inclusive as it can be.

Forum scope

• To evaluate the current transport network in Southampton in terms of inclusivity i.e. can a scheme be accessed by all regardless of level of mobility.
• To identify any mobility barriers in the city, which can be reported back to council officers and/or be addressed in future scheme design.
• To evaluate proposed schemes against the lived experience of user groups that use various methods of active travel and sustainable transport alongside those with specific mobility barriers and disability.
• For each member to represent the interests of the stakeholder group they are part of, as well as listening to the views of other stakeholder groups and forum members.
• To form a dialogue with council officers, with the aim of making policy,scheme development design and decision-making process for transport schemes and programmes more transparent and understandable to residents.

Forum meetings

The Accessibility Forum will meet quarterly. Meetings will be facilitated by a council Chairperson and structured as follows:

1. Review of previous minutes and actions
2. Presentation from Southampton City Council’s Transport Team or from invited guests on a requested topic.
3. Presentation/feedback of progress made between Forum meetings on proposed transport schemes from Forum members
4. Reporting of progress made on works requests (where feasible) by Transport team.
5. Agreeing next steps and actions.
6. Any other business

Other items could be added to the agenda in discussion with the Chair.

Membership of the Accessibility Forum

Membership of the Accessibility Forum will include representatives of each of the following stakeholder groups:

• Advocacy groups for people with disabilities
• Cycling representative groups
• Walking representative groups
• Local Councillors
• SCC (Southampton City Council) Officers
• GO! Southampton and other district centre representatives
• Community Interest Groups, and
• Others that could be invited for specific items. e.g., bus operators, taxi operators, neighbouring authorities (Hampshire County Council).

The Forum will be administered by SCC officers within the Integrated Transport Service Area.

Meeting location and frequency

Meetings of the Accessibility Forum will be held every three months commencing from 25 January 2023.

Initially, meetings will be held online via Microsoft Teams - this can be reviewed by Forum members to ensure it is working for all attendees.

Minutes of Meetings

Minutes of the meeting and follow up actions will be circulated within one week of the meeting.

The agenda for the next meeting will be circulated at least two days prior to it. The minutes of the Forum will be circulated publicly and will be clearly signposted so members of the public can easily access the consultation decisions of the Forum.