Political Opinion with Chris Coghlan MP: Fighting for better local accessibility and exposing alleged adult social care lawbreaking
Since my election, I’ve been working with the Accessibility Horley Group and Horley Town Council to support their efforts to make the town safer and more accessible for everyone.
One example of an area we’ve focused on is the pavement, lay-by, and pedestrian crossing by Tesco Express on Brighton Road. We’ve been urging Surrey Highways to fix the long-standing flooding and accessibility problems there. After heavy rain, the crossing often becomes impassable, posing a risk for pedestrians, wheelchair users, and families walking to nearby schools.
I’m pleased that Surrey Highways will send a crew to clear and inspect the drains and has added new dropped kerbs to its list of future improvements, to be completed when funding allows. Please let me or your local councillor know if you notice any further flooding at this site.
This month, I also worked with ITV national news to uncover alleged lawbreaking by Surrey County Council which could threaten the lives of residents living in Horley-based supported living provider, Peak15.
Surrey County Council have allegedly carried out “illegal” and “negligent” needs assessments to implement cuts to care hours for adults with learning disabilities, without justification. This is part of changes to how they contract adult social care, known as the ‘Dynamic Purchasing System’ (DPS).
One resident with significant learning difficulties and severe mental health issues could see their one-to-one support hours cut from 31.75 to just 2 hours per week. Their family say they were given no input. These cuts could be dangerous and create a potential threat to life.
Furthermore, Peak15 told me that they believe that, of the 27 people who had a needs assessment, only one person was thought to have had the mental capacityto understand the consequences of cutting their care. No capacity assessments were believed to have taken place.
At a recent PMQs, I asked the Prime Minister to support Christopher’s law. This is legislation which would create a duty to assess mental capacity where it is in doubt, make the code of practice under the Mental Capacity Act legally binding, and introduce tougher enforcement of the law, which would be crucial in cases such as this. I have also written to Surrey County Council, urging them to reverse their decision.