Fisheries Audits

Ever wondered why you dont see many disabled anglers at your fishery, or disabled members within your club. Ever been asked why? only to get the reply “we don’t have many disabled people here” the answer may simply be that your fishery or club isn’t up to an acceptable minimum standard for disabled people to equally enjoy the facilities. With 11 million disabled people living in the UK, if you don’t have the facilities, you are seriously missing out on membership & revenue; you could also be breaching the Equality laws. By investing in a BDAA fishery access audit, you could improve the current lack of facilities and increase income.

We constantly review the disability and Equality acts, Building regulations, British standards, other disability organisation offering best practice, and the new BDAA access standards for angling incorporating them into the design and access advice for fisheries, clubs, local authorities in order to help change the angling environment. The Equality act 2010 imposed new duties on service providers in angling terms fisheries, clubs, retailers, points of sale, employers. All of whom have a duty to provide an equal opportunity for disabled visitors, clients, members to gain access to the services you provide. An access audit is a process used to assess the accessibility of a fishery, fishing tackle retailers, fishing licence outlets, club meeting places & local authorities providing fishing as a recreation.

Under the Equality act 2010 all of these provide a service in one way or another and so have a duty to provide suitable access for use by disabled people, so that anyone wishing to use your services is able to. The audit covers a range of factors such as approaches, car parking, surfaces, toilet facilities, furnishings, staff training and attitudes, equipment, membership process and fishing areas. The report is designed to carry out a fishery access audit, identifying areas needing improvement within their service provision under the requirements of the Equality act 2010. Some of these changes will be simple and of little or no cost to your club/organisation or fishery, such as positive attitudes towards disability. The document is easy to use; short explanations and comments on all areas are backed up by information in the appendices about how to improve accessibility and the reasons for making changes.

The Equality act October 2010 was introduced to end the discrimination that many disabled people face. This Act has been significantly extended, including by the Disability Discrimination Act 2005. Part 3 of the act refers to service providers and access to goods and services such as those supplied by most angling clubs and commercial fisheries who are required to make reasonable adjustments in order to ensure these are accessible to disabled people.

Auditing your fishery, club or businesses access and facilities and the way they are provided will enable you to identify areas for improvement, not just physical ones but attitudes, policies forming an action plan for the future. It is also a valuable document for those who do not own their fishery and may need to negotiate with landowners or local authorities to make improvements.

Audit Charges

 Note expenses are charged at following:

• • Mileage @ £0.60ppm
• • Accommodation costs where required

Prices correct June 2012