Agenda and minutes

Contact: Fiona Rae, Principal Committee Co-ordinator  3541, Email: fiona.rae@haringey.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies for absence

To receive any apologies for absence.

Minutes:

There were no apologies for absence.

2.

Declarations of Interest

A member with a disclosable pecuniary interest or a prejudicial interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered:

 

(i) must disclose the interest at the start of the meeting or when the interest becomes apparent, and

(ii) may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter and must withdraw from the meeting room.

 

A member who discloses at a meeting a disclosable pecuniary interest which is not registered in the Register of Members’ Interests or the subject of a pending notification must notify the Monitoring Officer of the interest within 28 days of the disclosure.

 

Disclosable pecuniary interests, personal interests and prejudicial interests are defined at Paragraphs 5-7 and Appendix A of the Members’ Code of Conduct

 

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

3.

Disabled Residential Parking Permit pdf icon PDF 506 KB

The Chair of Overview and Scrutiny has agreed that the decision is both reasonable in all the circumstances and that it should be treated as a matter of urgency. This is in order to restore, as quickly as possible, the ability for vehicles to be registered to anyone in the same household as the resident that holds the Blue Badge. This will allow those Blue Badge holders to access the wider borough more fully than at present, particularly so that they can take full advantage of what Haringey has to offer before and during the Christmas and New Year period.

 

Please be advised that the Chair of Overview and Scrutiny has further agreed that the call-in procedure shall not apply to this urgent decision. This is because the decision is urgent and any delay in implementation caused by the call-in procedure would seriously prejudice the Council's or the public's interests due to the fact that this decision relates to extending the concessions of the (free) disabled residential parking permit, aligning it more to the original companion badge scheme, and will restore, as quickly as possible, the ability for vehicles to be registered to anyone in the same household as the resident that holds the Blue Badge. This will allow those Blue Badge holders to access the wider borough more fully than at present, particularly so that they can take full advantage of what Haringey has to offer before and during the Christmas and New Year period and this can be communicated to Disabled Badge Holders in December. Accordingly, the Chair of Overview and Scrutiny Committee has agreed that the decision is both reasonable in all circumstances, and that it should be treated as a matter of urgency. This is in accordance with Part 4, Section H, and Paragraph 18 (a) and (b) of the Council Constitution.

Minutes:

The Cabinet Member for Customer Service, Welfare, and the Public Realm considered the report which reported on the feedback of statutory consultation which commenced on 13 October 2021 for 21 days, closing on 3 November 2021, on the proposal to extend the concessions of the disabled (virtual) residential parking permit as detailed in paragraph 6.4 of the report. The report also requested approval to proceed to implementation of these concessions, having taken objections into consideration.

 

The Cabinet Member RESOLVED

 

To approve the proposal to extend the concessions of the disabled virtual

residential parking permit, as detailed in Table 1 in paragraph 6.4 of the report.

 

Reasons for decision

 

The Blue Badge parking scheme is a lifeline that allows millions of disabled people to park their vehicle close to their destination, either as a passenger or driver. The badge can only be used lawfully if the disabled person is either driving the vehicle or being carried as a passenger and being dropped-off or picked-up at that location.

 

The scheme is designed to support the most vulnerable people in society, but is subject to fraud and abuse, ranging from misuse of the badge by family members, to criminals and gangs stealing badges to sell on the black market.

 

Following approval granted under Delegated Authority in October 2021, statutory consultation was undertaken on extending the concessions of the disabled residential parking permit. The Council is required to consider the feedback to this consultation prior to deciding whether or not to implement the proposed changes.

 

A total of 4 submissions were received to the statutory consultation – 3 objections and 1 in favour. Of the objections received, none could be considered as a ‘substantial objection’ for example, relating to the consultation process not following required legal process or statutory documents containing fundamental errors. A summary of objections received are detailed in Table 2, paragraph 6.10 of this report.

 

Alternative options considered

 

An alternative was to not introduce proposed changes to extend the concessions of the disabled (virtual) residential parking permit borough wide. This is not recommended as the changes proposed are to ensure the Council meets it obligations under the Equality Act 2010.

 

 

The Chair of Overview and Scrutiny has agreed that the decision is both reasonable in all the circumstances and that it should be treated as a matter of urgency. This is in order to restore, as quickly as possible, the ability for vehicles to be registered to anyone in the same household as the resident that holds the Blue Badge. This will allow those Blue Badge holders to access the wider borough more fully than at present, particularly so that they can take full advantage of what Haringey has to offer before and during the Christmas and New Year period.

 

Please be advised that the Chair of Overview and Scrutiny has further agreed that the call-in procedure shall not apply to this urgent decision. This is because the decision is urgent and any delay in implementation caused by the call-in procedure  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.