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Benidorm incorporates a crane in the Accessible Beaches to make bathing even easier for people with reduced mobility

 

• It is located at the accessible point of Levante and will allow the transfer of users from a wheelchair to the amphibious chair in a safer manner.
• Toni Pérez: “We were pioneers in bringing accessibility to the beaches and we continue to improve them for the enjoyment of all people, regardless of their abilities”

 

Benidorm City Council, through the Department of Beaches, has incorporated for the first time a crane to the Accessible Beaches service to facilitate bathing in the sea for people with reduced mobility who use this service. Specifically, as explained by the Councilor for Beaches, Mónica Gómez, it is a crane that is already operational at the Accessible Beaches point in Levante, which will allow for a more comfortable and safe transfer of people who travel in wheelchairs to the amphibious chairs used for bathing, an operation that "until now required the intervention of at least two lifeguards and which can now be carried out with just one assistant and without the need for sudden or difficult movements for the user."

 

The Mayor of Benidorm, Toni Pérez, accompanied the Councillor for Beaches this morning to this point in Levante to see first-hand how this new mobility assistance element works. “We were pioneers in bringing accessibility to our beaches so that they could be enjoyed by anyone, regardless of their condition or abilities, and now we continue to improve this service, also incorporating this crane in a pioneering way so that our Accessible Beaches are even more comfortable, more inclusive and more accessible for all,” said the Mayor.

 

Mónica Gómez has indicated that the incorporation of this new element has been assumed by the company in charge of the integral management of the beaches, RA Benidorm, and that therefore it has not had any additional cost for the City Council. 

In 2000, Benidorm City Council opened the first Accessible Beaches point in the city, a service that was expanded in subsequent years to the three that exist today: one in Levante and two in Poniente, and which remain operational throughout the year. At these three points, people with physical and functional diversity are offered elements such as access ramps, walkways that connect with the access ramp to the sea, adapted changing rooms, adapted toilets, shaded areas and windbreaks, amphibious chairs for adults and children, amphibious crutches of different sizes, lifeguards as support staff for bathing, buoys delimiting the bathing area and WIFI connection, recalled the Councilor for Beaches, all with the aim of "making their stay on the beaches as satisfactory as possible." 

 

Last year, this service had a total of 16,155 users: 6,649 at the one located on Levante beach; 7,959 at the one in Elche Park; and 1,547 at the one located in La Cala. 

 

Grant to introduce new improvements

On the other hand, the Councillor for Beaches has announced that, despite the fact that Benidorm's Accessible Beaches "are fully equipped and are set as an example of a fully accessible and inclusive service by the main disability platforms in our country, the City Council continues to explore all possible avenues for improvement". This is why the Council is going to request a subsidy from the Generalitat Valenciana within the line of aid launched by the Second Vice-Presidency and Ministry of Social Services, Equality and Housing, by which subsidies are called for the year 2024 to local entities and non-profit entities for the improvement of accessibility conditions to the physical environment. 

 

Specifically, according to the councillor, a project will be presented for the improvement of the three accessible beach points, which includes the acquisition of new sections of roll-up walkway to facilitate access to the sea, a railing and three new amphibious chairs, one of them XXL in size. The total cost of the project to be presented to obtain the subsidy is budgeted at 12,815 euros.