Glasgow council team set up to deal with backlog of disabled parking bay applications

Residents in Glasgow have faced delays for disabled parking bay applications as the council still deals with a backlog from the pandemic.

Glasgow City Council had 400 applications for disabled parking bays at the beginning of the year. So far the backlog has been reduced by 40%, a council meeting heard.

A dedicated team has been set up to process the applications.

Raising the issue at a full Glasgow City Council meeting yesterday, Labour councillor Lillith Johnstone said: “For a person a disabled parking bay can be the difference between being part of their community or indeed independent and effectively housebound.”

SNP councillor Ruairi Kelly said a “dedicated team” had been set up to handle the backlog and it is expected to be cleared by the end of the year.

He said staff are “working with remaining applications to get out and undertake the on site inspections, which have to happen for each one of them.”

He added: “It is not just a case of going out and painting on the road – there is a lot more work that goes into each and every one of them that that.”

Councillor Johnstone asked: “What assurance can you give constituents who have waited indefinitely for a parking bay that the council takes this matter seriously and what commitment can they give to clearing this backlog within a specific timeframe?”

Councillor Kelly said the council had shown commitment by setting up a dedicated team.

He said: “Unfortunately it was unavoidable during the pandemic that the applications couldn’t get addressed as quickly as we would have liked. That was due to officers being redirected towards the administration of grants and support for citizens who needed it just to get by at the time.

“We expect the backlog to be finished by the end of this year and back on top of it going forward.”