Shaping Accessible Routes
At TaAF, we believe that changing the system starts with listening, learning and working together differently. When people with lived experience are part of the conversation, real change happens – because they help us see what’s possible and what needs to shift.
That’s exactly what happened when the Canal & River Trust teamed up with our Let Me Move Accessibility Advocates to understand some of the barriers to accessing and exploring the waterways safely and confidently. The conversation has since grown to shape their new Accessible Routes project – proving how collaboration can open up new ways of thinking and help more people enjoy moving in their own way.
Hear from Vicki Birch at Canal and River Trust:
“
Collaborating through an inclusion lens and alongside colleagues with lived experience of disability has been invaluable in helping us challenge our own thinking.
The idea for the Canal & River Trust’s Accessible Routes project began with a simple conversation between Joe and me at the Active Burnley Forum, led by Together an Active Future (TaAF). Joe, who uses an all-terrain wheelchair and is part of TaAF’s Lived Experience Advisory Group, shared his experiences of wheeling along the canal and the barriers he regularly encounters. Many of these were gates originally installed to stop motorbikes, but as Joe pointed out, some are now broken or have alternative access points right beside them, meaning they no longer serve their purpose and instead create unnecessary obstacles for people using mobility aids.
We talked about the challenges the Trust faces as a landowner, finding the right balance between keeping people safe and managing antisocial behaviour such as motorbikes on towpaths, while also wanting to open up access and remove barriers that limit independence. I suggested that we start by identifying which routes are already accessible and promote those locally.
That initial conversation has since grown into the Sport England funded Accessible Routes project, a national piece of work designed to help people plan their visits in advance and feel confident exploring the waterways. The project focuses on providing clear pre visitor information and activation, highlighting routes that are already accessible and identifying where improvements could make the greatest difference. It also aims to improve signage and wayfinding so that people can move along the network safely and independently.
Now preparing to be piloted in three key Trust (and Sport England) priority areas (Pennine Lancs, Bootle Sefton, and Black Country), the project continues to be shaped by people with lived experience like Joe and the wider lived experience advisory group.
The insight we’ve got from working with the Let Me Move team has been invaluable in helping us challenge our own thinking and ensure that the waterways can be enjoyed by everyone, safely, confidently, and independently.
“
Vicki Birch
Strategic Programme Manager (Communities and Participation)
Canal and River Trust
Read more about the work the TaAF Let Me Move team have been doing here