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3.4.2.2 Accessibility and Social Exclusion
The percentage of pedestrian crossings with facilities for disabled people has improved acrossthe WMMA between 2001 and 2004, and all authorities perform better than the Englandaverage. Apart from Birminghamand Coventry,all the authorities also perform better than the regional average. Trends aremixed in terms of the percentage of footpaths and other rights of way which areeasy to use. All the districts apart from Coventryshow a positive trend in the condition of footways.
Based on the Indexof Multiple Deprivation (IMD) reports for 2000 and 2004, only Walsalland Wolverhampton have become less deprivedbetween the two dates, compared to other districts and unitary authorities in England. Theother five districts show a relative deterioration, and Birmingham and Sandwell remain in the 10%most deprived districts in the country.
In terms of networkcoverage of buses, the LTP1 target for achieving “92% of the metropolitan builtup area to be within 250m of a stop with a weekday, daytime service by 2011”,was met in 2003/4 and now stands at 93%.
Another LTP1indicator which is related to improving accessibility to key services is;“Improve the level of public transport accessibility between the LTP centresand areas of deprivation by 2011”. This indicator is currently ahead of target,having seen an improvement between the 2003/4 and 2004/5 reporting periods.
The AccessibilityStrategy which forms part of the LTP2 is currently under development and willbe completed for the submission of the Final LTP2 in March 2006. As part ofthis strategy a range of indicators are being developed which relate toaccessibility to employment, education, health facilities, and fresh food.These indicators generally relate to the provision of appropriate publictransport to access the services, with one example being; “_% of registered disabled and pensioners over 65 within 15 and 25minutes travel time of NHS hospital out-patient facilities, by low floor publictransport services from 0830 – 1830 on an average weekday”._