Cardiff Council Removes Blue Badge Parking – Canal Quarter

Cardiff’s City Centre East improvement scheme was part of Cardiff Council’s clean air plans. Discussions with stakeholders in 2019 modified the scheme to include Canal Quarter.

What is Canal Quarter?

Canal Quarter is a project taking place on Churchill Way in Cardiff city centre. The council plans to restore a section of the dock feeder canal into a green space for the community. 

This new community space will include:

• ‘A range of all year flora, trees and rain gardens’ this will support a sustainable drainage system (SuDS)
• An Amphitheatre
• Al fresco dining 
• Social areas
• Taxi Rank facilities
• Bridges 
• Waterfall feature
• Bicycle parking 

Why this is an Accessibility Issue

Churchill Way was previously home to 36 accessible parking spaces for blue badge holders. These parking spaces are rarely empty. They are a huge asset and a necessity to Cardiff’s disabled community. 

It provides the disabled community the same opportunities as non-disabled people. It’s in close proximity to Queen Street – Cardiff’s high street and St.David’s Shopping Centre. 

I have personally never seen a better example of accessible parking spaces. These are diagonal spaces on Churchill Way with a hatched area on each side of the parking space. These are crucial to support wheelchair users who transfer from the car to their wheelchair as well as providing enough space for people with other types of mobility aids or difficulties with balance. 

The pavement had dropped curbs that were completely level with the road, providing a seamless change from road to pavement. The pavement was level. It was smooth and easy to move across with mobility aids. There were also few trip hazards as a result of the paving they had used. They smartly used different tones of grey to highlight different areas of the pavement. For example, the dark grey along the curb highlights where the curb is; this can be useful for someone with a visual impairment. In other areas of the city paving slabs are extremely hazardous to the community. Using my wheelchair on Queen’s Street takes a huge amount of concentration and is more like an obstacle course.

The Removal of Blue Badge Parking

There were 36 accessible parking spaces. 11 were removed and 25 spaces remain. These spaces were very rarely empty of blue badge holders, making a loss of 11 spaces a significant number.

Over the course of the last few years and during 2021 in particular the Council frequently blocked off around 11 of those spaces for community events. During summer 2021 this included a green space with picnic tables. Having seen the space for myself and looking at the Council’s social media posts of the green space, it had very little use. I cannot see how removing those accessible spaces benefited our community or high street at all. 

The community note a number of contractor vans using some of the remaining spaces for parking. This means we have no idea if there will be 25 spaces on offer to blue badge holders or 24, 23, 22 spaces on any given day.

Is the Council Hiding from the Disabled Community

Yes I believe so. However, I’d like to hear your opinions. In order for you to make an informed decision I will share some of the information I found after I began digging deeper. 

Cardiff Council published a report stating ‘relocation’ of accessible parking spaces they would replace through the city. This is however, on page 5 of a consultation report and does not go into further detail. 

When the Council announced its plans for Canal Quarter they made no statements regarding the accessible parking on Churchill Way. Unless you are a blue badge holder or a regular bus user in that area you likely wouldn’t have known they were removing accessible parking spaces. 

The easiest and most likely way you would have known about this is if you had read the consultation report. Page 5 states ‘some disabled parking to be relocated’. This is what prompted my many emails to Cardiff Council because they had chosen to be vague on the details and I believe that was for a reason. 

Cardiff Council regularly shares information on their Facebook page about bin collections, the closure of parks and redevelopments. Announcements on road closures due to events and car parks shutting for essential maintenance. However, you won’t find a notice on temporary or in this case permanent closures of accessible parking spaces for blue badge holders. In fact you won’t find many if any announcements that affect the disabled community.  

This information is hidden well within documents and details they do provide are purposely vague. Some may say this is because they haven’t done the necessary research before publishing their plans and honestly, I don’t know.

How the Council can Start Rectifying their Mistakes 

We are asking the council to replace the 11 accessible parking bays for blue badge users to Windsor Place with vehicle access via Dumfries Place. 

We need a like for like replacement as a bare minimum. However, we are asking for 11 blue badge spaces with a hatched area on each side of every bay. These spaces must be at least 6600mm long and 2700mm wide. If they spaces are at an angle they must be at least 4200mm and the width of each space much be at least 3600mm. Cardiff Council must work with an access consultant on this.

The road and pavement on Windsor Place needs levelling to avoid accidents. Replacing the pavement with a different type of paving such as Churchill Way would be less hazardous. Dropped curbs from the pavement to the road needs levelling for a seamless transition.

Removal of the trees will also allow for the wider pavement required. Trees on Windsor Place require removal due to root growth that pulls up paving slabs.

There is a road crossing to access Queen Street from Windsor Place. This will also require dropped curbs in line with the road, wider and smooth pavement surfaces. All pavements and crossing must include tactile paving to support those who are blind or visually impaired. Pavements should be free of street furniture or require a large clearance.

Parking should also remain free to blue badge holders. 

Blue badge parking at the entrance of Windsor Place should relocate with the new bays. These relocated bays can then become part of the public pay and display on street parking. Whilst that space works for some blue badge holders they do not work for everyone and relocating will make them safer for all users and promote their use. 

How You Can Help

There are a number of ways you can help.

1. First and foremost send your complaints into Cardiff Council. We need more on paper. This makes it harder for the Council to ignore the issues affecting our community.

I will also be releasing a complaint email template in the next 24 hours, highlighting our concerns and how to resolve them.

This will include templates for Disabled People, Parents/Carers and Ally’s of the Disabled Community, meaning everyone can support our cause. 

2. Let me know your thoughts! I am collecting opinions and views from disabled people, parents and carers. Add your opinions to a growing list by sending them to me via social media or emailing me at: theworld.mywords@gmail.com. Your details won’t be included, only the comments you wish to share.

3. Share, Share, Share! Never underestimate the power of social media. Help us raise these issues, share the content surrounding the issues such as this post and elevate disabled voices.
   
   Don’t forget to also share your experiences of blue badge parking on Churchill Way. 

If you want to see how the council have responded to my emails so far you can find out here: Council Responses to Churchill Way.