Some people have suggested there are too many disabled bays
NEW parking rules including the number of disabled parking spaces have caused debate among the residents and business owners of Barry Island.
A petition calling on the council to make changes to the parking rules has gained over 1,000 signatures.
“I am with Whitmore Bay Lifeguards. Being a coach I am often late as there are no allocated parking spaces, and since the introduction of more disabled bays this is becoming impossible,” said Jenny Davies, who signed the petition.
The number of disabled parking spaces on Friars Road and Paget Road on Barry Island was increased by the council last year.
Some people have complained about being “priced out” of their volunteer roles.
The summer charges for the council-run Harbour Road and Nell’s Point car parks were extended to cover all year round in 2021, meaning that visitors have to pay £6 for anything over an hour.
A volunteer at a nearby shop, who wished to remain anonymous, told The Cardifian: “Three of our volunteers have had to quit because the cost of parking is too high for them.
“We used to have a parking space outside our shop but now it’s been turned into a disabled space and we have to use one of the pay and display car parks.”
Debbie Stevens who signed the petition said: “It has already affected my daughter doing her lifeguard training.”
“I cannot help her carry her equipment to the beach from the car park and she cannot carry it by herself. This means that she can no longer train, which she has been doing for years. The council needs trained lifeguards.”
A Freedom of Information request submitted by The Cardiffian has revealed that 138 penalty charges were issued at Harbour Road Car Park in 2021, with 216 issued at Nell’s Point Car Park.
The combined fines for both car parks totalled over £7,000 in 2021.
“Visitors and owners are getting tickets by sly enforcement officers waiting to pounce,” said another person who signed the petition.
But some residents and visitors have argued that the increased number of disabled parking spaces is important.
“We’ve had problems with parking at Barry Island in the past and before the new spaces were introduced they used to quickly fill up,” said Miriam Garratt, 54 from Aberystwyth, whose son Siôn is a student at Beachwood College, Sully and is a blue badge holder.
“Sometimes there would be a queue of people waiting to park in the disabled spaces.”
“Siôn loves to visit the arcades on the Island and the disabled parking spaces allow us to cross the road more safely than parking in one of the pay and display car parks.
“We are very pleased that there are now more spaces,” she said.
Chief executive of Disabled Motoring UK, Graham Footer, said: “We recognise that having the right number of accessible bays is very important and having too many can be detrimental and lead to abuse.
“We advocate that a detailed parking survey regarding the actual real-world demand (not a paper-based exercise) is carried out to enable an informed judgement to be made. This will provide the right number of disabled bays for the area instead of providing a number based on a percentage which we see all too often.”
Leader of the Vale of Glamorgan Council, Neil Moore responded to a question from the public about car parking issues at Barry Island at a full council meeting on March 7.
“A lengthy consultation process was held in 2021 and there were no concerns or objections raised to the number of disabled parking bays proposed,” said Coun Moore.
“The revenue from car parks is essential to assist in the ongoing maintenance and management of these well loved and heavily visited sites.
“Dispensation to car park charges has been offered to litter picking groups, but regrettably we cannot provide dispensation to all groups who make such a request.”
Coun Moore said the cost of car park season tickets was likely to be cut from £100 down to £50 for the full year from April 1.
He also suggested that an automatic number plate recognition system is being explored which would allow an hourly charge system to be implemented.
