The Cabinet was requested to consider whether it should charge for the provision of on-street disabled parking bays taking account of legal advice from Kent County Council which questioned the legality of such charges on grounds of disability discrimination. Historically KCC and the District Council’s had charged an administration charge of £30 for the consideration of on-street disabled parking bays, far less than the actual cost of providing one. The report distinguished between the provision of interim “advisory disabled parking bays” which cost much less to provide but which could not be enforced and permanent enforceable bays which required a Traffic Regulation Order to be made. It was noted that there was a statutory power which allowed for charging for the actual provision of parking bays and the question was whether the Council wished to make such a charge and if so at what level. Whilst the new procedures recommended by KCC for processing applications for on-street disabled parking bays had been adopted the issue of charging was a matter for each District Council to determine, although KCC had recommended that where a charge was made it should be capped at a maximum of £250 per application.

The Portfolio Holder for the Cleaner and Greener Environment advised the Cabinet that this matter had been discussed at the Environment Services Select Committee meeting on 7 June 2011. The Committee had had regard to the relatively small number of applications and the fact that if a charge was to be levied for a parking bay there was no right of exclusivity by the person making the payment and had therefore recommended that the status quo should prevail. The Parking and Amenities Manager informed Cabinet that, so far, 5 other Kent Districts had decided not to make a charge and that 2 other Districts were currently undecided. The Cabinet felt that no charge should be made given the current level of applications but reserved the right to look at this again if the number of applications increased significantly.

Resolved:

(a) That the implementation of interim disabled parking places be at no cost to applicants and that they be funded from the on-street parking account;

 (b) That the provision of enforceable on-street disabled parking places requiring a traffic regulation order be at no cost to applicants and funded from the on-street parking account; and

(c) That the issue of whether to charge for the provision of On-street Disabled Parking Places should be reviewed in 12 months time.