Agenda item

To consider a report (copy attached) whether holders of Disabled Parking Badges (Blue Badges), should be allowed to park free within the Council’s Pay and Display car parks.

10.20 a.m. – 10.50 a.m.

The Lead Member for Highways, Planning and Sustainable Travel, introduced the report (previously circulated) to consider whether holders of Disabled Parking Badges (Blue Badges) should be allowed to park for free within the Council’s Pay and Display Car Parks.

During the introduction the Head of Planning and Public Protection Service advised that it was the Community Support Services, within the Social Services Department, that administered and issued disabled parking badges (blue badges).  He informed the Committee that the report had been presented to members in response to a notice of motion to County Council in January 2017 relating to the principle of charging ‘blue badge’ holders for parking their vehicles in council-owned car parks.

During the discussion members raised the following points:

·       they felt that as Denbighshire was the only Council in North Wales to charge ‘blue badge’ holders for parking in council car parks, this led to confusion, particularly for those visiting the area;

·       people with a disability would generally require an extended period of time to undertake the same activities as able-bodied people i.e. shopping, visiting the bank etc.   Therefore they would require to purchase a more expensive parking ticket to allow for the extended period of time they would require to undertake their activity;

·       that, compared to other local authorities, Denbighshire seemed to be adopting an ungenerous approach to ‘blue badge’ holders;

·       that the report did not contain details of the financial implications to the Council if it decided to change its policy to allow disabled badge holders to park free of charge in its car parks;

·       that it would be useful for all local authorities if the Welsh Government (WG) gave a clear directive in relation to charging ‘blue badge’ holders for parking in council owned car parks;

·       there was a need for a consistent policy in relation to disabled parking in both the county’s urban and rural areas;

·       to avoid confusion and uncertainty in relation to charging clear signage was required in all car parks.  It was suggested to facilitate this, discussions should take place between the County Council and town and community councils;

·       whilst accepting that the need for a ‘blue badge’ was not means tested people with a disability often incurred additional expenses related to their mobility needs, although some disabled people did receive benefits to help meet their mobility costs;

·       with the current demographic changes taking place in the county, there would likely be an increase in the number of disabled parking permit requests in the near future;

Responding to the points and questions raised by members, officers:

·       advised that whilst Denbighshire was the only authority in North Wales that charged ‘blue badge’ holders for parking in its car parks, it was not unique in adopting this approach.  A number of other councils in Wales and across the UK adopted a similar approach.  Of those that charged, some adopted the same approach as Denbighshire, others permitted additional time for the same charge i.e. an extra hour on top of the time charged;

·       emphasised that being a ‘blue badge holder’ did not reflect a person’s ability to pay for parking.  ‘Blue badges’ were issued to people who required assistance to access services or facilities due to mobility problems, not because they were of limited means.  Disabled parking badges were not ‘means tested’, they were issued to people who met a mobility criteria assessment and the badges belonged to the person and not to a specific vehicle.  There could be a number of other car park users who were more likely to struggle financially from having to pay for car parking than ‘blue badge’ holders i.e. the unemployed, pensioners or benefit recipients;

·       advised that without undertaking a detailed analysis of the potential impact of withdrawing parking charges for ‘blue badge’ holders it was difficult to predict the financial implications of a change in policy.  However, as a guide, officers estimated the monetary loss of income to be in the region of £20K to £25K.  In addition to the financial loss, there could be associated consequential implications if the current policy was changed, such as ‘blue badge’ holders using designated parking spaces for an extended period of time i.e. all day if working nearby thereby reducing the number of designated parking spaces available for disabled people who wished to access shops or other services, an increase in the number of applications for ‘blue badges’ which would place additional pressure on administrative staff within the Community Support Services’ department.  In addition ‘blue badge’ holders would continue to utilise their rights to on-street parking if that was more convenient for their place of visit;

·       confirmed that WG guidance clearly stated that the decision on whether to charge disabled badge holders for parking in council-owned car parks was a decision for each individual local authority, it was not a central government decision;

·       the concessions granted to disabled badge holders on a UK wide basis in terms of parking locations and time restrictions, as listed in paragraph 4.10 of the report, were quite wide-ranging and aimed at improving accessibility and their quality of life;

·       confirmed that the law required 6% of the number of car parking spaces in any public car park to be reserved for disabled people;

·       advised that they were confident that the Council could substantiate that it had the required number of designated disabled parking bays across its car parks if it was challenged to do so;

·       confirmed that ‘blue badge’ holders that displayed their badges in vehicles parked in non-disabled designated parking bays were afforded the same rights as those parked in designated disabled parking bays;

·       confirmed that presently there were just under 7,000 ‘blue badge’ holders in Denbighshire, of which nearly 2,500 had been issued during the past 12 months.  Each permit was issued for a period of three years;

·       advised that they were not aware of any extensive misuse of the ‘blue badge’ scheme.  Staff from the Social Services department were charged with verifying badge applications, whilst civil enforcement officers patrolling the Council’s car parks were charged with challenging any suspected misuse; and

·       confirmed that the power to take the decision in relation to car park tariffs was delegated to the Head of Service, as per the Council’s Scheme of Delegations.

The Head of Service advised the Committee that he was satisfied having listened to the discussion that the current arrangements were not agreeable to members and he offered to undertake some further work on the implications of various options relating to car parking tariffs for disabled blue badge holders, including free car parking in designated disabled bays and the potential of permitting all ‘blue badge’ holders an additional fixed period of time for the same tariff as other users when parked in any council-owned car park i.e. an additional 1 hour, prior to publishing his ‘Delegated Decision’.  If at that stage members continued to have concerns about the matter they could, within the rules laid out in the Council’s Call-In Procedures, call the decision in for further scrutiny. 

At the conclusion of a comprehensive discussion the Committee:

RESOLVED:

(i)    to confirm that, as part of its consideration, it had read, understood and taken account of the Well-being Impact Assessment (Appendix B); and

(ii)   that the Head of Service, in consultation with the Lead Member for Highways, Planning and Sustainable Travel, having considered the above observations take a delegated decision in relation to car park tariffs for ‘Blue Badge’ holders.