Decision made on £10 Badge charge

New and replacement Blue Badges will incur a £10 charge from January 1, it has been decided.
County Coun Tony MartinCounty Coun Tony Martin
County Coun Tony Martin

Lancashire County Council (LCC) is the highest issuing authority of Blue Badges in England but was the only one to provide them free-of-charge.

But now, with LCC facing cuts of £223m over the next five years, the maximum charge allowed by the Department of Transport is being brought in to cover around 58 per cent of the administrative costs.

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The decision was made by County Coun Tony Martin, the cabinet member for Adult and Community Services and County Coun Azhar Ali, the cabinet member for Health and Wellbeing.

Charges will not apply to people who can provide evidence that they have had their Blue Badge stolen.

The move has been criticised by disability groups worried disabled people were being used to fill a hole in LCC’s budget.

Over 27,400 Blue Badges were issued in the past 12 months by Lancashire County Council.