Please make the beaches more accessible.

Yesterday Tom and I went to the beach in Southsea along with his Mum and his crazy golden retriever!

Those of you who know Tom with know just how much Tom loves the sea, I'm pretty sure the ocean runs through his blood.

We love walking down the promenade and getting some fresh sea air, it so great for Tom to be by the sea, he also seems so happy and it blows out all of the cobwebs.

Southsea is great for accessibly along the promenade and we can have a lovely long walk from top to bottom. There are a couple of wheelchair accessible paths along beach over the stones, they don't however lead up to the waters edge, and in fact they don't even reach the end of the stones so Tom can't even see the waters edge! I want to thank Portsmouth City Council for putting those paths in and also the maintenance of them is so great, however there is so much more that can be done in order to make the beach entirely accessible to all.

I think if we extended the paths further down the beach that would be great start to allow people who rely on their wheelchairs to get onto the beach. This would be really helpful for Tom and his family as Tom's dog Nala loves to swim. Currently Tom and 1 person have to stay on the promenade whilst the other takes Nala onto the beach and throws the ball into the water for her. It would be lovely to see Tom sat with Nala and watching her swim with his family.

Another thing that could be done would be make a decking platform rather than the path, although this may be a little more pricey and may require slightly more maintenance over time it would be a huge investment into the happiness of thousands of people. This would also bring lots more people to the beaches of Southsea in the summer as it could then be one of the best accessible beaches in the UK.

A changing place would also be a brilliant addition the seafront. There is already a changing places in the D Day carpark and this is amazing! However if you are going out for the day with a child/adult who requires these facitiles not only to tend to their personal care but they may need changing into their swimwear, you don't want to then have to walk through a carpark and onto the beach with someone dressed in their swimming costume. If there was one on the beach, beach hut style this would make things far easier for families and their carers and also protect the Childs/adults dignity.

I really hope that we can start think of those people who do require extra thought when planning things to be accessible. I really think the world is becoming more accessible but there is a long way to go to allow everyone to have the same opportunities.