A NEW action plan has been adopted by the Salisbury transportation plan joint committee to improve parking access for disabled people in the city.

This action plan has been produced through working with groups from within the disabled community.

Salisbury district council has released £10,000 from its budget to implement the schemes. Chairman of the joint committee Dennis Brown said: "Salisbury city centre is an attractive place to visit for people with mobility difficulties.

"It is not only flat but the network of city centre streets also provides easy vehicular access.

"We hope this will make access to our wonderful city a lot easier for everyone."

The action plan includes:

the production of a leaflet giving advice on where disabled people can park and for how long;

additional disabled car parking spaces in Brown Street and Salt Lane car parks;

re-marking disabled spaces in off-street car parks to accord with recommended standard sizes;

changing legal parking orders to standardise the length of stay in disabled spaces to three hours;

moving the bollards outside the Playhouse to allow vehicles with rear access to park;

providing signing location of disabled spaces within car parks;

identifying main routes between the car park and major destinations.

Mr Brown added: "One of our key actions from this plan is to foster even better relationships between the councils and the disabled community.

"We shall involve a representative from the disabled parking group in our ambassador training, to improve our understanding on access problems.

"This action plan will make it easier for disabled people to park in the city and I am extremely pleased that the joint committee has adopted it."