Today in the UK more than 14 million people are living with a disability, and in almost half of those cases the individual is suffering from reduced mobility.

For those who require a wheelchair, this can make everyday life incredibly difficult, as reporter Rhys Griffiths found out when he spoke to a local councillor who spent a day in wheelchair to experience these challenges.

It is a glorious late summer's day when I meet up with Tim Prater at the café at the foot of the Leas Lift in Folkestone, where he is enjoying what I soon discover is a well-earned pit stop.

Earlier in the morning he, and fellow Lib Dem Adam Rowledge, spent time exploring Sandgate in a bid to discover just how wheelchair-accessible local shops, businesses and public transport really is.

It's fair to say it was something of an eye-opener for the pair - both able-bodied, both first-time wheelchair users.

Although there have been inconveniences and obstructions large and small, it appears the rather terrifying trip down to the seafront is what will stick in both their minds long after the chairs are packed away.

"It was a near-death experience as far as he is concerned," Tim says of his companion's descent down the steep Road of Remembrance.

"Adam, who was in a manual chair, has pledged that he's never doing that again.

"A couple of times he had to stop himself by putting a foot out to save himself falling out, which is not a luxury available to other people."

According to research by the House of Commons Library, mobility is the most frequently reported impairment among disabled people of state pension age, affecting 63% of people in this group.

And as our population continues to age, the need to improve accessibility for the mobility impaired will only grow.

Tim and Adam's experience was arranged by Cinque Ports Mobility, which is based in Tim's Sandgate council ward and is a supplier of equipment and support for those who have mobility issues.

"Somebody ought to come around with me and see the problems that I face..."

Alan Risley-Settle, who is in his 70s and lives on Cherry Garden Avenue, uses a powered chair to get about and joined the expedition to explain what issues he faces day-to-day.

"I find it actually quite difficult, quite daunting at times," he said. "I've often said that somebody ought to come around with me and see the problems that I face.

"Some of the dropped kerbs are almost non-existent. I found that down one side of Shorncliffe Road, and I found a dropped kerb was almost non-existent at one of the road crossings.

"Somebody very kindly stopped their car, put the hazards on and assisted me, and that was very kind and much appreciated.

"I do get offered a lot of assistance by people, don't always accept it, but I'm always grateful for the offers."

Alan previously used a manual wheelchair but earlier this year switched to a powered wheelchair, which he accessed from Cinque Ports Mobility via the government-backed Motability scheme.

"It's been getting more and more difficult because I've found Folkestone getting hillier," he jokes.

"If you're down at the town hall it's a Dickens of a job to get back up to what used to be Debenhams, Folca.

"Lots of people have said 'can I give you a push?' and I've gratefully said yes, but I've realised that I needed the power and it is making life a lot easier."

Even with that extra oomph that comes from a battery-powered motor, accessibility is still a challenge when so much of the world around us is simply not designed with wheelchairs in mind.

Tim said: "Some of the smaller things that we found around Sandgate are much smaller fixes that would just make life so much easier.

"Some of that's about convincing businesses to have a look at it through the eyes of somebody in a wheelchair, or somebody with accessibility issues, or somebody who is partially sighted.

"There's a café in Sandgate and just between their serving area and their seating they've got a little step.

"I'm able-bodied, I have never noticed that there's a step there. But I noticed today, because getting over it in a wheelchair is not fun."

After talking a while at the Leas Lift, it was time for Alan, Tim and Adam to complete their final journey along the seafront to the Folkestone Harbour Arm.

It is an incredibly popular destination, but for those with accessibility issues it can feel an awful long way away.

Alan was only forced to brave the incline of the Road of Remembrance, which leads down to the harbour from The Leas, because he was unable to book a wheelchair-accessible taxi, an issue he says is all too common.

We approached the Arm from the west, which means taking the beach boardwalk past the rising Shoreline housing development and the beachside bars and restaurants.

Both Tim and Adam tried to navigate the wooden walkway, made up of what look like former railway sleepers, and both found the ordeal to be disheartening and occasionally dangerous.

"We came along the boardwalk, and in a wheelchair that was horrible," Tim said.

"Little different things have made it much harder than it needs to be..."

"I've walked along it time after time as a local resident, down to the Harbour Arm, and never thought about it.

"It's horrible. It makes you feel sick, you keep getting caught in ruts, and it's just a really inaccessible experience.

"And that's been the eye-opener today. How many little things, little different things, have made it much harder than it needs to be."

Chris Cox, from Cinque Ports Mobility, had helped organise the day for Tim and Adam in the hope it would be both educational, and lead to lasting change.

"Here we are on the Harbour Arm having had a surprisingly difficult day out, much harder than I even thought it would be," he said.

"Here it is lovely and flat, but it's been a bit of a fight to get here.

"I'm very concerned that although we've had a very good experience, this will be for nothing if this isn't more of a catalyst for change.

"That's a very easy throwaway sentence, but really what I mean is I will be upset if what we've done today doesn't leave some legacy somewhere which to me would mean permanent change.

"One of the areas and aspects that we talked about is shops and cafés and other basic services, how it wouldn't take too much to affect change.

"Sometimes the approach and how you get that change can come across as judgmental, but there's no element of judgment about inaccessible space.

"It's more creating the environment and the forum where questions can be asked to the experts and we can then assist in making them more accessible."