A week ago I blogged about a proposal to allow Blue Badge Holders extra time on any car parking tickets brought. Today the Parking Advisory Panel met to discuss this, and more importantly, invited people from the disabled community to speak on this issue.

Those from the disabled community spoke with passion on the difficulties they face going about their daily business. They did not just want a free ticket as they understood the corporate side to parking and charging. The Panel listened and debated this issue for near two hours and came up with a recommendation that (Unless I judged it wrong) met with the approval of those invited. That recommendation is as follows:

The Parking Advisory Panel discusses many areas around car-parking and not just tariffs. It then makes recommendations to Cabinet for their final decision. One of these areas that the Panel has discussed is the charging for parking for a Blue Badge holder. Currently the Cornwall Council Policy is if the vehicle displays a tax disc marked NIL/Disabled; or the vehicle is an especially adapted vehicle; parking in a car-park (Off Street) is free.

The Panel is looking at this again due to the fact disabled people may take longer than able bodied people to carry out everyday tasks and therefore may need to pay more for parking. This means that blue badge holders may not be able to complete all their tasks in the parking time they have purchased, they may have to purchase more time and/or they may feel pressured to rush back to the car park – possibly exacerbating their condition. It could be seen as not being fair and discriminating against disabled people.

On the 16th June the Panel will be discussing this issue and will look into a few possible solutions. This could include one of the following options in the draft Order for 2012/13 which will be subject to consultation (through the statutory legal process) allowing blue badge holders an additional time for every time period purchased in Cornwall Council car parks using:

Option 1
Option A: Allow blue badge holders an additional hour on the time period purchased.
Option B: Allow blue badge holders an additional hour for each hour purchased.

(and/or)

Option 2
Allow vehicles exempt from charges because of the disabled tax disc or adapted vehicles longer than the maximum stay in short stay car parks. The length of time should reflect the option chosen above.

Let me know what you think