Wiltshire Council’s decision to provide one extra hour of parking for free for Blue Badge holders in council-owned car parks, provided they have already purchased a ticket, has come under criticism by Westbury town councillors who say that the scheme is still grossly unfair to the most vulnerable people in the community and that Wiltshire Council should reinstate their original scheme.
Wiltshire Council announced last September that they would charge Blue Badge holders for parking in council-owned car parks, but following heavy criticism, the council decided to amend their plans. The new plan instead offered Blue Badge holders an additional one hour of parking for free – provided they had purchased a ticket initially.
However, Westbury town councillors say that this decision does not properly compensate Blue Badge holders who before this change, were allowed to park in Wiltshire Council-owned car parks for free.
At a meeting of the highways, planning, and development committee of the town council on Monday 17th April, cllr Mike Sutton described the move as shameful. “It’s somewhat pleasing to know that those with a Blue Badge will get an extra hour of parking free of charge, but that is the small print – they still have to purchase a ticket to qualify for a free hour,” he said.
“It doesn’t seem that those affected by this will actually be getting much in the way of compensation; it’s shameful.”
Cllr Gordon King added, “This is not what I would choose to do. Those that have a Blue Badge are some of the most vulnerable people in our community and to say to them that they can’t park in a Wiltshire Council-owned car park free of charge is one of the most iniquitous things I can think off.
“To say that they can have a free hour once they’ve paid for one already is terrible, what they should be doing is reimplementing the Blue Badge scheme properly. All they are doing is transferring parking onto the streets as a Blue Badge allows them to park on double yellow lines if needed.”
Cllr Sutton concluded, “Societies are judged by how they look after the most vulnerable.”
