THE cabinet member for transport at BCP Council no specific changes were being made to its provision of disabled parking spaces, despite millions more people potentially being eligible to use them.

Councillor Andy Hadley said that the existing approach of regularly monitoring their use would continue following the widening of who can apply for blue badges.

Since Friday, people in England with hidden disabilities have been eligible to ask the council for a blue badge.

The move has been widely welcomed with campaigners saying it will make a “real difference” to people with invisible impairments.

But charities have warned that councils have not taken steps to increase the number of disabled parking spaces ahead of the expansion of the scheme.

According to Department for Transport figures published last year, 2.35 million people had been issued with a blue badge.

With millions more now eligible to apply, concerns have been raised that there might not be enough disabled parking spaces to meet demand.

Ceri Smith, policy and campaigns manager at disability equality charity Scope said the new criteria was welcome but described the lack of preparation from some councils as “extremely worrying”.

“This change should make a real difference for many disabled people with invisible impairments and conditions who have been shut out of the blue badge scheme to date.

“But in order for it to work, it's vital that councils issue blue badges to people who are newly eligible to apply.

"More also needs to be done by councils to ensure that there are enough allocated blue badge spaces near shops and amenities to meet increasing demand."

Research carried out by Confused.com earlier this year found that 74 per cent of local authorities had carried out no preparation ahead of the expansion of the scheme.

Councillor Andy Hadley, BCP Council cabinet member for transport and infrastructure, said: “As standard our car parks will contain approximately six per cent disabled spaces.

“We actively monitor the usage of these spaces and every six months carry out a review which includes listening to customer feedback. Disabled spaces may increase or decrease depending on the results of this work.

“By working in this way we can ensure that disabled bays are provided at the locations most used by blue badge holders and those bays used minimally can be freed up for alternative use.

“We will continue with this approach following the roll out of the updated blue badge scheme and would encourage our blue badge holders to use these marked parking bays where possible.”