WATCH: Pembrokeshire mum's concerns over council parking bay removal plans (cloned)

A Pembrokeshire mother has further highlighted concerns that her autistic teenage son could lose his independence if his family's on-street parking bay is taken away by Pembrokeshire County Council.

Disabled residents across Pembrokeshire are facing a sudden loss of independence as Pembrokeshire County Council are making moves to remove designated disabled parking bays from outside their homes - claiming the bays are now "illegal."

Crucially, these bays were officially installed by the council under the Disabled Persons Parking Pilot (DPPP) and are governed by active Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs) that explicitly mandate specific permit use.

The DPPP was launched by Pembrokeshire County Council in March 2022 to provide dedicated on-street parking bays for eligible disabled residents.

Cabinet approved the pilot scheme to provide individual disabled parking bays for residents meeting specific eligibility criteria. As part of the approval, it was agreed that the scheme would be reviewed after two years to assess its effectiveness and determine whether it should be revised or withdrawn.

At PCC’s services overview and scrutiny committee meeting held earlier this year at County Hall, members unanimously approved the option recommended [to align with the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984] to transition from individualised bays to category-based bays, e.g., general bays bascially for Blue Badge holders, after receiving a report from the Local Authority’s Head of Transport and Environment.

However, Haverfordwest resident Claire Gray has since raised concerns, highlighting that this approach from Pembrokeshire Council will affect other areas across the county too.

Claire who provides care for her son 16-year-old son Jack, 24/7 due to his complex needs and him needing constant supervision, previously told the Observer: “My son is one of the 20 disabled residents of Pembrokeshire this will affect.

“He has significant and profound learning difficulties and this is going to make his world so small by trapping him in the house again!

“By bypassing proper legal channels to scrap their own scheme, the council is leaving extremely vulnerable residents including disabled children with severe mobility issues isolated and effectively trapped as prisoners in their own homes,” she continued.

“Vulnerable residents who pay permits for these spaces and rely entirely on close-proximity parking will no longer be safely able to leave their properties for medical care or daily life.

“Pembrokeshire County Council claims the residential bays are "illegal" under national legislation. However, the bays are governed by local TROs specifically set up to handle these exact permits.

“Despite the existing legal framework, the council is allegedly stripping the bays away without launching the statutory 21-day public consultation required to alter a TRO, and without conducting mandatory Equality Impact Assessments.

“To remove or alter an active TRO, the council must run a 21-day public notice and consultation period. They are failing to do this,” explained Claire.

“This is Impacting residential streets across areas managed by Pembrokeshire County Council. This issue highlights a severe procedural failure and a breach of disability rights by a public authority trying to quietly undo its own legal frameworks.

“Residents are trapped right now!” she added.

As well as Haverfordwest, some of the locations across the County that the Disabled Persons Parking Pilot has been running, include - Pembroke Dock; Pembroke, Pennar; Neyland; and Milford Haven.

In an interview with BBC Wales this month, Claire said that her son Jack is prone to running away and has damaged neighbours' cars in the past, meaning the family fear for his safety without the dedicated disabled parking bay.

"He's low verbal, severely autistic, he's got lots of different medical issues," she said.

"Everything is a challenge."

With no driveway and limited parking spaces, Claire says she would often have to park streets away from their home.

"We would drive up and down, his anxiety would grow and he would get really agitated," she said.

"Unfortunately, Jack has hit a neighbour's car and damaged a car when dysregulated.

"Having the space has literally opened the world to him. He's not going to school, coming home and we can't go out because we can't park and then worried about the behaviour after.

"We can come home and say 'right we're going to go to youth club or go and see nanny and grampie'.

"It makes my life so much easier to care for Jack and I feel that I can give him the life that he should have, that he can go out and enjoy life, otherwise I feel like I'm trapping him in the house and that's hard."

By having to share the bay with other eligible blue badge holders, Claire says that she will not be guaranteed a space outside their home.

She continued: "We're going to be stuck in the house again, we're going to be prisoners in the house.

The change to a blue badge bay could also mean having to move the car every three hours between 9am and 5pm - an added complication when life is already difficult, Claire said.

"I've got cameras watching him because he'll eat plastic or glass, like he'll eat anything, and then I'm worried about moving a car," she said.

"It's just going to add stress to an already stressful situation."

The charity association Disability Wales said it was disappointed an equality impact assessment was not carried out by Pembrokeshire Council before the pilot scheme was reviewed at the scrutiny meeting.

"If you can only move a small amount to get to your car, to then be able get to appointments, for example, that's really important," said Leandra Craine from the association.

Pembrokeshire County Council said a final decision had not been made and the current arrangements for individuals remain in place.

"Equality impacts will be assessed and considered by cabinet alongside all other relevant information when determining the future of the scheme,” said a spokesperson for PCC.

Claire added: "Please, please just think about the individuals. These people have the bays because they need them.

"Most people would say it's just a parking space but to him [Jack], it's his key to the community."