To seek approval to re-consult on proposed changes for the future provision of the introduction of Blue Badge charging in Council Managed Off-Street Car Parks within Bridgend County Borough.

The Corporate Director Communities presented a report, seeking Cabinet approval to re-consult on proposed changes for the future provision of the introduction of Blue Badge charging in Council Managed Off-Street Car Parks within the Bridgend County Borough.

He confirmed that reports were presented to Cabinet on 31 March 2015 and 14 July 2015, which among changes to disabled parking provision, proposed changes to the concession to disabled parkers that allow these users to park free of charge in all Council car parks throughout the County Borough where other users may be required to pay to park.

Paragraph 3.2 of the report then outlined the measures in place which assist in providing equitable access to these car parks, particularly for those who are participants in the Blue Badge Scheme.

The Corporate Director Communities added, that the recommendation of the first Cabinet report above was to proceed with an informal consultation and report back on the outcome of this for consideration by Cabinet of an appropriate way forward. The report also increased the number of parking spaces in off-street car parks, to accommodate the disabled and disabled parking (45 spaces) and details regarding these were shown in paragraph 7.1 of the report.

He then explained that the recommendation of the second Cabinet report referred to above, was to give Officers approval to proceed to the next stage of statutory consultation required under the Regulations which was duly approved. The Council received 16 responses to this consultation exercise and these were shown in paragraph 3.18 of the report.

The Corporate Director Communities then stated that a public survey on the Blue Badge parking had also been conducted the end of last year, and the majority of the respondents to the survey (83%) used Council managed Off-Street Car Parks, half of which used the facilities more than once a week. Based upon this, any change to the current service is likely to have an impact on the majority of the residents who have responded. If the proposal was introduced, the majority of respondents (71%) supported the introduction of more parking spaces for blue badge holders, and more than half of the respondents (52%) stated they supported the introduction of an additional hour of parking for blue badge holders. In the associated qualitative section for the latter question, 42% of those who provided a comment stated that they did not support the proposal, and that parking for blue badge holders should remain free.

As a result of the consultations undertaken to date and the feedback to these, the Authority had decided to carry out a further consultation exercise incorporating some of the suggestions and issues raised, together with some further proposals for consideration. Paragraph 4.2 then highlighted some of the issues raised by the previous consultation exercises.

The Corporate Director Communities then stated that it would therefore be appropriate that the above issues be taken into consideration in the new consultation, and that a number of options be put forward as part of the consultation process, and these options were confirmed in paragraphs 4.4 – 4.9 of the report inclusive.

Due to the timescales between the previous Cabinet report’s, it was decided that an update was required on the current number of marked disabled parking spaces in these car parks, particularly in light of the relocation of Shopmobility to Brackla 1 Off-Street Car Park, and the results were as shown in Table 2 contained in paragraph 4.10 of the report.

The remainder of the report advised the Corporate Director Communities, expanded upon the processes that would be followed as part of the next consultation process in order to get as full and positive response as possible to this latest exercise.

Finally, the Corporate Director Communities referred to the report’s financial implications, and that there would be a requirement to upgrade 7 pay and display machines to be compliant for use, as well as to amend car parking Orders to implement such changes subject to the outcome of the statutory consultation on the proposal.

The Cabinet Member Communities advised that the number of different consultation exercises undertaken as outlined in the report, reflected that the Authority were a listening Council, who take on board the views of individuals who actively engage in consultation exercises initiated by BCBC.

RESOLVED:                      That Cabinet approved:

1.    The revised proposal outlined in the report.

2.    That a further report be presented to Cabinet upon completion of the consultation exercise together with the findings of the full EIA.