Appendix E - Information provided by Midlothian Council
Midlothian Council: For the period between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024
Part 1, paragraph 2: ‘A report prepared by a local authority under section 11(1)(a) may contain any other information about its performance of its functions in relation to parking places for disabled persons' vehicles during the reporting period that the authority considers appropriate.’
Introduction
The Disabled Persons’ Parking Places (Scotland) Act 2009 (‘DPPP’) places duties on Councils in Scotland to provide enforceable parking places for use by people with disabilities whose vehicles display a valid ‘Blue Badge’.
DPPP requires each Council to prepare and submit to Scottish Ministers an Annual Report recording the progress made to implement the Act in the preceding period.
Implementation
Three Traffic Orders legalising a total of 115 new DPPP parking places, were completed in 2023/24, together with a further three Orders to remove 44 bays which are no longer needed by Blue Badge holders.
A regular stream of new applications continues to be received from disabled people who experience difficulties in parking close to their homes - 136 such applications during 2023/2024, some 25% greater than in 2022/23.
It is expected that there will be sustained increases in the numbers of Applications for on-street ‘Disabled’ bays, as the new ‘Pavement Parking’ legislation progressively increases the pressures on drivers seeking to park overnight in the older and most densely developed housing areas.
The lack of staff within the Council, and competing priorities, prevent DPPP applications, and issues arising at controversial sites, from being dealt with as promptly as the Council would wish. This has been compounded by chronic difficulties in getting approved bays painted and redundant ones removed, though recent changes are starting to have some impact in this area.
The slow rate of progress in getting new bays marked on-street has impacted on the rate at which these bays can be ‘legalised’ by inclusion in Traffic Orders, to allow active enforcement in the event of local disputes which cannot be resolved by mediation. However the presence of the initial ‘advisory’ disabled bay markings is generally enough to resolve any local parking issues.