Agenda item - Member Involvement

To consider the following matters raised by Members:

(a)          Petitions: To receive any petitions;

(b)          Written Questions: To consider any written questions;

(c)          Letters: To consider any letters;

(d)          Notices of Motion: to consider any Notices of Motion referred from Full Council or submitted directly to the Committee.

(B)         WRITTEN QUESTIONS

(i)            Disabled Parking Bay enforcement- Councillor Hill

55.1      Councillor Hill put the following question:

“A resident is repeatedly getting home between 8pm and midnight to find someone parked in his disabled space. Usually there are no other spaces nearby and he has to double-park. He has sustained damage to his car due to this. He has repeatedly tried phoning the enforcement service but has never had a response during these hours. What enforcement services are available to support disabled residents in this situation?”

55.2      The Chair provided the following reply:

“A contravention must be witnessed by a Civil Enforcement Officer in order to issue a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN).  If the vehicle is not displaying a blue badge when parked in the disabled bay, a CEO can then enforce if observed in contravention.

Anyone with a blue badge may park in a disabled parking bay, even if they didn’t request that specific bay

If the bay is a ‘personalised‘ disabled bay with a vehicle registration number displayed on the signage, enforcement officers can take enforcement action against any vehicle that does not hold this registration number.

Offences can be recorded by using the dedicated number and I will ensure that is provided to you in my written reply.

Civil Enforcement Officers aim to attend within one hour between the hours of 8am to 8pm and after these hours, NSL are obliged to visit by 9am the following day, however, they often respond on the same day.

If the resident can provide the location, we can ask our enforcement contractor to provide an on street log report”.

55.3      Councillor Hill asked the following supplementary question:

“Can vehicles be towed so residents can park?”

55.4      The Head of Parking Services clarified that if the bay was a dedicated, personalised bay then the option was available to tow vehicles. Officers typically reviewed parking enforcement issues such as these over a six month period however; this specific issue could be reviewed sooner if it was causing significant issues.