Call for public to have say in disabled debate

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A LABOUR councillor has called on Bromsgrove District Council’s cabinet to give disabled people a voice at the February 22 meeting when blue badge parking will next be discussed.

It comes after the motion from Coun Luke Mallet to give blue badge holders free parking was defeated at Wednesday’s (January 18) full council meeting.

Instead, an ammendment put forward by the Conservatives was agreed. That called for a compilation of facts and figures to be put before cabinet before any action was taken. A second ammendment, from the Labour Group, instructing the cabinet to find the funds to cover disabled parking was defeated.

Coun Mallet and his fellow Labour councillors want the authority to scrap the controversial blue badge parking charges, which were decided in 2004 and implemented in 2006.

He urged residents, representatives and councillors of all parties to attend the February 22 meeting and called on the cabinet to let the public speak there.

He said: “We are calling on the cabinet to rise above politics and to do right by the disabled people of Bromsgrove.

“The concern for disabled people is that this issue is raised over and over again and each time they are given hope, only for the charges to remain.

“It was the wrong decision in 2004 and it is the wrong decision now.”

Coun Mallett criticised the council for being the only Worcestershire authority to charge.

He also explained the fee was implemented in 2006 to cover the Shopmobility Scheme, but that cost had already been covered.

Further points included his view that disabled people were more likely to be unemployed or in low-paid jobs and that there was a danger to their safety when parking on double yellow lines, for free.

Bromsgrove District Council leader Roger Hollingworth said he would be happy to speak to Coun Mallett and members of recognised equality groups, such as Access and the Bromsgrove and District Action Group for Older People, ahead of the cabinet meeting.

He added the council would be writing to those groups to invite them to do so and added he would also be happy for a representative from those bodies to speak at the cabinet meeting.

On Coun Mallett’s point about Bromsgrove being the only authority to charge for disabled parking, he said he had spoken to leaders from other councils who were looking into doing the same.

And he added many disabled people were happy to pay for parking and it was more an issue of finding a way to help vulnerable people - whether they were disabled or not.

“Some disabled people need help, but some able bodied people need help as well.”

The next cabinet meeting will be held on February 1 but reports on the matter will not be ready, so the issue will be discussed at a cabinet meeting on February 22.