Family faces 3-year wait for disabled parking bay

THE FAMILY of a six-year-old girl with a rare brain disorder may have to wait until 2020 before they are given a disabled parking spot outside their home.

Emelene Horton, from Penarth, was born with a condition known as partial ACC which stops her from communicating and walking.

In the past two years, the schoolgirl’s health has deteriorated rapidly and led to her developing epileptic episodes.

In April, her dad Justin submitted an application to Vale of Glamorgan council for a disabled bay to be installed outside their terraced house on Queen’s Road.

He said his daughter’s equipment is getting more difficult to manoeuvre from the car to the house.

While the local authority accepted their request, an officer warned the family that they could be facing a three-year wait – as only 10 bays are allocated in the county each financial year.

“I was very, very shocked,” said Justin, who owns a children’s clothing shop in the town.

“You’d think asking for a disabled parking space would be relatively simple, but there have been such drastic cuts that they’re only allowed to allocate 10 each year.

“Emelene may be 10 years old by the time this bay actually gets painted. I’m not sure how we’ll manage until then.”

Justin said Queen’s Road is a very congested street which means he often has to park long distances away from their house.

He added: “The parking is particularly acute during weekends and after 5pm on weekdays when people come home from work.

“Sometimes we have to park 200 metres away across the other side of the road and it’s becoming more and more unsafe to move Emelene from the car to the house.

“And it’s only going to get worse with the building of flats at St Paul’s Church nearby.”

Justin, who has contacted his local councillor in a bid to address the problem, said he feel like he’s hitting a brick wall.

“We are not looking to jump any queues. Everyone on that list is important,” he added.

“We just want people to know how difficult it is and how our public servants aren’t addressing the issue.”

The Vale of Glamorgan council said it operates an “Individual Disabled Persons Parking Bay” scheme where Vale residents can apply to have a disabled parking bay installed close to their property.

A council spokesman said: “Currently our budget permits the installation of 10 disabled bays per year and Mr Horton’s family is on a waiting list, with implementation likely in the 2019-20 financial year.

“Every application is a high priority for those concerned and so while we have great sympathy with the family’s circumstances we are not able to prioritise individual cases.

“To do so would require our staff to undertake a subjective analysis of each application and more importantly would unfairly raise expectations for other applicants who felt they had equally strong cases for a priority need.

“We therefore implement all approved applications in the order in which they are received, something which was explained to the family at the time.

“There is quite a lengthy legal process involved in the installation of the bays but we seek to install them within 12 to 18 months of application.

“As our current waiting time exceeds this we are looking to supplement the disabled parking bay budget with other highway funding to install a greater number of bays in 2017.

“It is hoped that this will benefit all families currently waiting for disabled bay provision, including Mr Horton’s.”