Proposed changes to arrangements for Blue Badge holders

Overview

Westmorland and Furness Council recently adopted a Parking Strategy highlighting improvements planned for on and off-street car parking it has responsibility for.

The Council came into being on 1 April 2023, bringing together four legacy councils, each with separate parking services. On-street parking was managed by Cumbria County Council and off-street parking by the three district and borough authorities, these are now all under the control of Westmorland and Furness Council. This allows us to develop a fully coordinated parking operation across all aspects of public parking in our area.

The Parking Strategy describes how we plan to use this coordinated approach to support better delivery of parking outcomes for our local businesses, communities and visitors, while contributing to wider Council aims.

For Blue Badge holders, it is proposed that the Council has a single consistent approach to Blue Badges across its car parks. Therefore, it is proposed that all Blue Badge holders will be entitled to 3 hours free parking on our car parks, but only in the designated accessible (Blue Badge) parking bays, and when displaying their Blue Badge. The Parking Service will be required to implement a revised parking structure to help achieve the enforcement improvements.

The current and proposed arrangements are detailed below – these provisions only apply to the designated accessible (Blue Badge) parking bays.