DISABLED visitors to the £11m Quad arts centre in Derby are still waiting for an access button to be installed on the door – five months after it opened.

A post with a push button on it, to allow wheelchair users to open the doors, was meant to be put up outside the building, in the Market Place, shortly after it opened in September last year.

But now, more than five months on, Quad is waiting for planning permission for the post, after taking months to draw up designs for it.

At present, disabled people have to wait outside until they are seen by staff and let in.

Philip Ridgarde, of Stanton-By-Bridge, near Melbourne, said he was appalled with the access problem.

He said: "It is a shame that after providing good internal access, with lifts to all floors and toilet facilities for the disabled on all floors, this problem has not been sorted."

Quad director Keith Jeffrey blamed planning complications for the delay.

He said: "The Market Place is part of a conservation area and this means there is a more complicated planning procedure in place than is usual.

"We worked long and hard to find a solution that met everybody's needs.

"The press button was always planned to be incorporated into a door post that also acted as signage.

"Finding an acceptable design took longer than anticipated but an application was put forward in mid-August last year.

"The button for the access was part of that design. It cannot be placed on the wall for logistical reasons. The door opens outwards, so placing the button on the wall would mean wheelchair users having the door open in their faces."

Martin Austin from Nimbus, an organisation in Derby which advises companies on disability law, said the issue should have been addressed at the outset.

He said: "It is a shame the button wasn't in there in the first place but it appears that Quad is doing everything it can to address the issue now which has to be noted.

"Disability access law does say that a building has to be accessible but the finer details, such as push-button access, are not spelt out in that.

Mr Jeffrey said he had not expected the problems regarding access.

"We never anticipated that the process would take long, otherwise we would have sought an alternative arrangement," he said.