Issue - meetings

Cabinet considered the motion that was adopted and referred to Cabinet by Full Council. The meeting confirmed that the Council currently provided one hundred and sixty four disabled bays on-street that have been applied for by members of the public as well as bays in our off-street carparks. The process for applying for on-street disabled parking bays was controlled by Kent County Council (KCC) under the existing Agency Agreements. The KCC policy did not allow personalised permits for individual bays as these were provided on the public highway and accessible to all those who hold a relevant disabled parking badge.

Members were advised that the application process is very lengthy and throughout that process, the documents state that it is chargeable due to the amount of work it takes to get the bay written into a Traffic Regulation Order. The bay was not personalised as the bay facilities were part of the Highway which gave any blue badge holder the right to park in a disabled marked bay. However, Cabinet committed to engage KCC in discussion on the best way forward, mindful of the legislative framework that was currently in place for managing such facilities.

Councillor Whitehead spoke under Council Procedure 20.1.

Councillor David Saunders proposed, Councillor Ashbee seconded and agreed the following:

1.  To engage with KCC on options available to accommodate all those who need access to disabled parking bays.

It was proposed by Councillor Whitehead and seconded by Councillor Keen that:

"This Council commits to an internal audit of the number of disabled parking spaces available in relation to the numbers of residents requiring them, and commits to contacting and working with KCC to bring forward personalised permits, so that our application based disabled parking bays can perform the role that is intended."

In accordance with council procedure rule 3.7, Councillor David Saunders provided a response to the motion.

Members voted not to debate the motion, therefore the motion was forwarded to Cabinet without debate as it related to a Cabinet function.