Shops Receive Awards in Eastleigh Council Scheme
| Published: 1st October 2008 16:00 |
Over 170 retailers in and around Eastleigh town centre have received the Borough Council's Accessibility Awards.
The successful shops, outlets and businesses received their certificates from the borough's Mayor, Councillor Derek Pretty at a breakfast presentation at The Swan Centre. This year's awards were graded Gold, Silver and Bronze.
The Mayor and Eastleigh MP, Chris Huhne, with some of the retailers at the accessibility awards The Accessibility Scheme is now in its seventh year. It acknowledges and encourages retailers in the town and nearby shopping centres whose efforts ensure that people with restricted mobility can shop in comfort.
Some 250 outlets were assessed by teams of students from Barton Peveril College under the guidance and on behalf of the Eastleigh Shopmobility Teams. In addition to the town centre, the inspections included shopping areas at Boyatt Wood and Twyford Road.
The Health & Social Care students agreed to help with the award scheme as the wheelchair shoppers, who originally made the assessments, found the task more onerous as additional outlets were included in the inspections.
Chair of the Eastleigh Area Committee, Councillor Chris Thomas, said, "Eastleigh's retailers continue to maintain a really high standard of care and help are being maintained by local retailers with a greater proportion getting gold awards this year. Eastleigh has a first class track record when it comes to making people welcome and this scheme highlights and acknowledges those outlets who are able to offer assistance.
Chris Thomas also praised the efforts of the Barton Peveril College students and added, "Their help and assistance with the assessments were as usual, a vital part of the award campaign.
The successful outlets received certificates and window stickers. Of the 170 awards made 43 were gold, 67 were silver and 63 were bronze.
What do you think?
You will need to sign in to post a comment to this article. if you do not have an AboutMyArea account, you can join now for free.
