On-street disabled parking

In certain circumstances, disabled parking bays can be created on-street in residential areas for disabled drivers. The drivers must be blue badge holders and not have access to off street parking, such as a drive or garage.

There is no cost. However, if a pathway or dropped kerb is required, the applicant will have to pay.

All requests will face a two-stage assessment process - see eligibility criteria below.

It can take about 12 months from your application to the installation of the parking bay. This might be longer if objections are received or the path or kerb needs dropping.

If you already have off-street parking, an application will only be approved in exceptional circumstances. If the request for an on-street parking bay is in a residents' parking zone or where waiting restrictions apply, for example yellow lines, zigzag lines or bus stops, it will not be approved. However, we may be able to place a bay further away.

Disabled parking bays are not solely for use by the applicant and are available to all blue badge holders, resident or not.

Further information

Eligibility criteria

We will assess eligibility on the following criteria. An application will be declined if the criteria are not met for both the applicant and the highways specific conditions.

Stage one - applicant conditions

The applicant must be:

the blue badge holder
the driver of the vehicle (evidence of driver's licence and vehicle ownership will be required)
requesting a disabled parking bay for the same address as their blue badge has been issued
unable or virtually unable to walk or propel a wheelchair for a comfortable distance outside the home - estimation of comfortable walking distance required
unable to access suitable off-street parking, for example a driveway, garage or parking place provided by a housing association or social landlord
unable to regularly park their vehicle on the public highway within a comfortable distance of their household

If you do not meet all of these criteria, but feel that your case is exceptional, please contact us. We will be able to assess your eligibility and advise you on whether to proceed with an application.

Stage two - highways specific conditions

We will make our decision on the following highway specific conditions. The application may be denied if one or more of the following exist:

we believe that there is reasonable evidence to suggest that the driver can regularly park their vehicle within a comfortable distance of their household either off-street or on-street
the request is for a highway that is not maintainable at public expense
the driver has access to suitable off-street parking, for example a driveway or garage, and the suitability of the off-street parking facility will be considered in line with government guidance, specifically:
- whether it is located on firm and level ground
- whether the gradient is reasonable
- whether there is space to enable the disabled driver to get into the car easily and safely
waiting restrictions - for example double/single yellow lines, clearways / bus stop clearways and school keep clear road markings - are already in place or have been proposed in the requested location
the request is within a controlled parking zone
access or visibility would be impaired by the parking bay
the road is not wide enough to allow the free flow of traffic when a vehicle is parked in the bay
the location is listed in the Highway Code as a place where vehicles should not be parked
the road has a speed limit over 30mph
the current number of disabled parking bays installed is higher than 10% of the total number of residential properties or 10% of the number of parking spaces in the street, whichever is higher, that is, 40 houses = maximum number of 4 Disabled Bays in that street

If either the stage one or stage two criteria are not satisfied then the request will be declined.

The process includes the assessments above, and the preparation of a traffic regulation order.

Applying for a parking bay

Once you have checked that you meet the criteria, you can apply by downloading the application form:

Application for a residential disabled parking bay (pdf / 814 KB)

Once completed, contact us to return the form, along with evidence of car ownership - a copy of the vehicle registration document must be attached or included showing that the applicant is the owner of the vehicle.

Enforcement of disabled parking bays

Most on-street residential disabled parking bays are enforceable, but there are some historic 'advisory' parking bays which are not enforceable. You can contact us to report misuse of a bay.

If you move house or no longer require a bay, please tell us so that we can arrange for the removal of the road markings.

Learn more or apply for a blue badge

You can find out more about the blue badge scheme and apply online from our blue badge page.