Wigan councillor pleads for parking permits grace

Wigan Council has already extended tbe blue badge scheme for holders who are unable to renew their badges due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

This means the council are temporarily accepting recently expired blue badges on public car parks and not issuing fines.

Councillor Stuart Gerrard has now called for a similar extension for those who have prepaid parking permits on the council car parks.

Coun Gerrard said: “The council have extended the blue badge scheme.

“I have also asked if a similar extension can be made forthose who have prepaid parking permits on the council car parks.

“I made the request some time ago and they have come back to me with encouraging news but nothing set in stone just yet.”

In a letter to Coun Gerrard, the council acknowledged that those who have prepaid for their parking won’t be gaining any benefit due to the current pandemic.

They said they will be looking to add time lost to the expiry date of the permits.

The letter reads: “People with contract permits have ‘prepaid’ for their parking, but won’t be gaining any benefit from this due to the current situation.

“We do not want to disadvantage anyone in any way, therefore we will be looking to add time lost to the expiry date of the permits. At the moment we are just looking at how we do this, as we are unsure as to how long this lockdown will continue. Staff from parking services have also been redeployed to critical services, so we don’t currently have the resources to update permits at this stage.

It adds: “We will be updating the web and social media pages, when we have more information with regards to permit extensions, or when enforcement will resume to something more like normal.”

It comes as Leigh MP James Grundy joined forces with Conservative councillors across the borough last month to urge the Government to prevent private car parks fining those who display their recently expired blue badges.

Their move came after it emerged that blue badge holders who are unable to renew their badges due to the Covid-19 pandemic run the risk of being fined for parking in private car parks, even though they are exempt on council ones.