Decision details

To authorise officers to proceed to statutory consultation on changing the legal orders to incorporate the following :
• Extend eligibility to allow the vehicle to be
registered to anyone in the same household.
• The free (disabled) virtual residential parking permit
be extended borough-wide, allowing holders to park
in non-dedicated parking bays, residential, shared
use and paybyphone bays.
• Those permit holders will be prohibited from parking
on single or double yellow lines.
• When using the virtual residential parking permit,
the Blue Badge must be available for inspection
when requested by an Enforcement Officer.
• When using the free (disabled) virtual residential
parking permit, the blue badge holder must be
present either as the driver or passenger of the
vehicle and therefore personally making use of the
concession, unless parked outside the home of the
blue badge holder.

Statutory consultation is required prior to changes being legally implemented to parking permit schemes. This report seeks approval to proceed to statutory consultation on the extension of concessions that apply to the disabled residential parking permit. This is intended to increase take up and reduce the theft of disabled blue badges

Due to the inherent risks of extending concessions, consideration was given to retaining the current conditions of use and allow the new disabled residential parking permit scheme to settle in and evaluate following 6 months of operation. This was viewed as unsatisfactory as many disabled badge holders feel vulnerable and want to retain as many features of the original companion badge scheme as possible.