Health & Lifestyle | Posted on June 24th, 2025 | return to news
Take part in Dorset Beach Access Survey
A local disabled man frustrated with the lack of facilities on Dorset’s coastline has launched the survey.
With a beautiful coastline on our doorstep, a survey is being carried out to discover the experiences of people with medical/mental health conditions and disabilities on accessing the beaches.
Will Behanna, the founder of The Beach Access Project, had a cycling accident at 16 which left him with a spinal injury. A full-time wheelchair user, he spent a career in sports development.
In 2023, he joined the legion of paddleboarders by making a foam seat which attaches to a paddleboard, allowing him to use a paddleboard on open water independently.
Subsequently he has acquired funding to build a range of equipment to support people who have difficulty standing to go paddleboarding. However, he has found it frustrating that so many blue spaces including beaches, rivers, lakes and canals are inaccessible for people with disabilities.
Behanna said: “Finding places with accessible parking, pathways, toilet and changing facilities and safe and easy access onto the water is consistently limited for people with disabilities.”
Last year, the Environment Agency produced a report from the Blue Space Forum: Health and Inequalities project. This project identified that: “There is little provision for people with physical or sensory disabilities to access safe outdoor blue space.”
Behanna launched the survey in June. He said: The more survey responses, the greater the evidence and impact we will have, to enable the Beach Access Project to fulfil its vision of enhancing and improving beach access to enable people with medical/mental health conditions and disabilities to play a meaningful and active role in beach life and blue space.”
To take part in the Beach Access Survey, log onto https://form.jotform.com/wbehenna/beach-access-project-survey-2025.
The survey is open until 30 September.
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