Narin beach Age Friendly accessibility project

Description

The community organizations and the community as a whole have chosen to move forward with a strategy to build a gold standard of accessible for the beach to be inclusive for every member of the community, particularly older people and those with disabilities. We are located beside one of the most beautiful Blue flag beaches in the county and through the initiative determination and unity within the community, believe we are on the way to achieve our goal.

We have already established at our beach the very first changing places facility in the northwest this is attached to our suite of toilets which are maintained on a daily basis. The overarching goal of our project is to create a holiday resort for families of all ages and abilities to enjoy and relax in thanks to the community’s thoughtful features. We have installed a coastal pathway which is fully accessible for the infirm and wheelchair users as well as well as families with prams and buggies
Continuing with this application will hopefully give you an idea of our dreams and aspirations for all.

Aim of Initiative

The ultimate aim of the project is to establish Ireland’s premier Age Friendly accessible beach. This is a process currently underway with Age Friendly Ireland where we are undergoing a four-stage process to achieve the status that will hopefully make us the first registered Age Friendly beach in accordance with the World Health Organisation criteria.
This is an accolade that we will not take lightly and will always strive for further improvement.

Who is it aimed at

The initiative as previously mentioned is primarily targeted towards those that require improved accessibility and adapted facilities to meet their needs, whether that is our changing places facility, our imminent external age friendly gymnasium or indeed our establishment of beach toy boxes for children to borrow toys and enjoy their day at the beach. These are operated totally on a trust basis which works really well because there is zero crime reported in our area.

3 Steps critical to success

1. That all stakeholders and local businesses along with community groups agreed on our ultimate vision for the future of our Beach area and that’s all stages of the project were communicated to county council employees who both advised and supported all our initiatives it was essential that all relevant departments of Donegal County Council supported our initiative and indeed a lot of close friendships were made during our working relationships.
2. Landowners were very supportive in giving permission for certain projects on specific sites with the support of a small tourism Grant from Donegal County Council created a fully accessible picnic area with commercial viewing scopes one at adult height and the second being at a level that is wheelchair accessible and suitable for children. The ultimate approval for this project was given by the landowner
   The accessible coastal pathway can now be extended to the next headland because the landowner has offered a wonderful opportunity to include space for two fully accessible picnic benches for visitors and locals to enjoy the majesty of the views
3. As you can imagine with the magnitude of such a project, financial support is integral through community fundraising. With support from many local businesses and our local championship golf course along with grants and financial support from all our political representatives we basically gathered a war chest if you like which has enabled us to progress

3 Challenges in Planning / Delivery

1. The biggest challenge is probably getting everyone on board and the same direction if you like. Basically this requires the ability to help others see forward in time to your ultimate goals and aspirations and convince all parties of its positive nature for all residents and visitors
2. Without the support of landowners of key areas then progress would be only a dream however through frank honest communications and indeed largely due to the fact that everyone was on side when the land owners approached offering assistance.
3. Challenge 3 has got to be trying to implement a system of basic courtesy to others who use these facilities for instance we are in the progress of establishing three Age Friendly parking places at our beach car park. It is imperative that these are respected as much as the disabled parking already in place. Our local Garda has been vital in helping to implement this.

3 Outcomes / Benefits

1. Ireland’s very first four by four motorized beach wheelchair which was officially handed over to local community groups in June. ( See facebook ‘Narin beach motorised wheelchair’ for information)
2. We are currently progressing with the installation of three tourist listening posts that are all solar powered and will provide a fantastic insight into the history, flora and fauna and other aspects of interest about the area, these will be used not only by the tourist population but local schools for educational trips and indeed our local pensioners group located at our environmentally friendly Dolmen Center, intend to visit ( see http://www.dolmencentre.ie
3. A resident of the area nearing completion of a building project to establish a fully accessible holiday building fitted with hoists electric beds and any other requirements to cater for a disabled holiday this will also enable anyone who requires a higher level of accessibility to book.

   Also I myself, am confined to a wheelchair and a part of the organizing committee, I can improve requirements for wheelchair users, basically we have representatives of all sections of society on our committee which really enables abroad perspective of requirements.