Council leader rebuffs newspaper story which claims disabled drivers are to be charged for parking

The leader of Flintshire County Council Aaron Shotton has rebuffed claims made by a local newspaper that parking charges for disabled drivers are to be introduced in Mold.

The story published on 30th January by the Daily Post reports on a Mold Town Council meeting in which head of Flintshire County Council’s Streetscene services Steve Jones held discussions with Mold Town Councillors. 

The newspaper reports ‘Parking charges could feature in all town centres in Flintshire from April with fees to be brought in for disabled drivers.’ however, within the story there are no direct quotes or comments in relation to the claim.

Flintshire County Council say they’ve been forced to respond to the claims in order to assure the public that no plans are in place to charge disabled drivers for parking in the town or any of the County’s car parks.

A statement on the County Councils website says

“The recent press story was based on a general discussion at Mold Town Council over the proposed review of the Council’s car parking strategy and not on any comment made by the County Council.”

Council Leader Aaron Shotton said:

‘”Whilst a review of car parking charges is one of the many proposals under consideration as part of our challenge to find efficiencies in the order of £18m in the coming financial year, no consideration has ever been given by the County Council to charging those people who need to park in disabled bays. The Cabinet member for Environment and Deputy Leader Councillor Bernie Attridge and myself wish to make it quite clear that this has never been under consideration by our Administration.“

Proposals discussed at the Mold Town Council meeting form part of the consultation process which will take place with all affected town and community councils before Flintshire County Council’s Cabinet considers a report on the car parking strategy in April.