Disabled Access
The UK's Disability Discrimination Act states public services should make "reasonable adjustments" to allow disabled access. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) in England has suggested in this context that kissing gates and stiles should be in time replaced or supplemented by a type that would allow access to a wider range of users. These concerns have partly now been addressed. The Equality Act 2010 has superseded the Disability Discrimination Acts and Defra, in October 2010, published a guidance document "Authorising Structures on Rights of Way. Good practice guidance for local authorities on compliance with the Equality Act 2010" Defra Equality Act path structure guidance. The Pittecroft Trust, a small UK charity, has published a summary of the Defra guidance Understanding the Defra guidance. Whilst neither of these documents lay down standards for kissing gate, they do require rigorous specification of these gates. The British Standard BS5709:2006 mentioned above fulfils that requirement. The overriding requirement is for any path structure, gate or kissing gate to cause the least restriction for users, whilst still providing the necessary level of animal constraint for farm animals.
Read more about this topic: Kissing Gate
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