FOR the last year my husband has been unable to access the library. This is because he is physically disabled as the result of a progressive and terminal neurological disease, and confined to an indoor/outdoor electric wheelchair. There is no wheelchair access to the library, and there is no intention of providing any.

If my husband wants to choose library books, we must either walk across town to the main library and back, or pay £10 each way for the only taxi that is able to accommodate his wheelchair.

The slightly larger than usual dimensions of his prescribed chair mean that it doesn't fit comfortably on the SCA bus, which would at least be cheaper.

In correspondence with the chief librarian, I find that he feels that it is okay not to have plans to put in wheelchair access because: - 1. The library is an old building and there will be a new one on the development on the Vospers site.

We are not able to access the public meeting/display about this, as the only wheelchair access to the building was by two single portable ramps, which do not accommodate a mid wheel drive such as ours. However, reading the literature I took out for my husband to read outside on the pavement, it was clear that the planned library is a long time off and my husband is unlikely to be alive to experience it.

I am well aware that the building is old, but neither physical disability nor being confined to an electric wheelchair are new concepts and the chief librarian and council have plenty of time to consider how access might be facilitated.

2. My husband can use the library bus This calls in Woolston at a time when my husband is still at work, and even if he wasn't it would be a struggle to fit the wheelchair in.

3. My husband can access books via the web catalogues.

This is not a solution - how many avid readers would want to choose all their books from lists like this when they have a perfectly good library so close to home?

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