In praise of Blue Badges, and Mary Portas...

These blue badges are jolly handy. I don't qualify for one myself, but Big Joolie does so we use it when I take her shopping. The rules permit that.

The badge is allocated to the disabled person and is valid whatever car they are in. It is perfectly legal for me to place it in the windscreen of my car if I'm running Big Joolie around, provided she gets out of the car when I park it.

Even when going to the pub the blue badge is handy, as we can park in a disabled bay near the door and she doesn't have to walk any further than is absolutely necessary on her arthritic hip. Its brilliant.

A couple of days ago, we went to Portswood in Southampton. I couldn't find a vacant disabled bay, but the badge was still useful as it allowed me to park in a 30 mins only bay and not worry about that time restriction. We then had 3 hours to do what we needed to do, which was plenty.

I can even park on yellow lines if there is no alternative, provided there are no loading restriction and I'm not causing an obstruction. But I don't like doing that. Yellow lines are there for a reason and I'm conditioned not to park on them, so it is better to find another option like that 30 minute bay, if it is possible to do so.

The biggest problem that I can see with the blue badge is that it is so convenient and parking charges on the High Street are so extortionate, that many people are tempted to abuse the privilige. I can't prove it, but motorists "borrowing" Aunties blue badge to use for their own purposes could well have been why I couldn't park in the official disabled bay, with Big Joolie, on Friday.

There's no way I would borrow Big Joolies badge just to make parking easier and cheaper for myself. I only use it when she's with me and we're out on a trip together. If I'm out on my own, I park normally. I wish everybody would follow that basic rule.

But there is another side to this. If I'm out on my own, I tend to go to places where I know the parking is easiest. Which means I wouldn't go to places like Portswood ordinarily. So the blue badges can actually help bring more custom to the High Street.

Or put another way, difficult parking will reduce the amount of trade that is attracted to the High Street.

Its true. When walking round Portswood  the other day, I thought it was quite an attractive little shopping area with a reasonable range of shops, but I wouldn't go there ordinarily because parking is tricky. I'd only go to Portswood if on a specific mission and I needed to visit a specific shop. If I can buy the items anywhere, I'll go elsewhere if the parking is tricky.

That 30 minute restriction in Portswood for instance, barely leaves me time to cross a tricky road junction and walk to the shops and back

The Portas Review picked up on this last year. If we want our High Streets to recover, Town Councils need  to stop thinking of the motorist as a cash cow and/or a nuisance, and make parking easier.

Town Planners, please note...!