Apply for a disabled parking bay in a residential area

If someone in your household is disabled and has a blue badge you may be able to have a disabled parking bay marked on the road near to your home.

Eligibility criteria

You can make an application for a disabled parking bay if you meet all of the criteria below. You must have:

a valid Blue Badge registered to your current address with at least 6 months validity remaining from the date of application
a vehicle registered to your current address, either as the main owner/driver or because you live with the main owner/driver
documentation to evidence your eligibility
no suitable off-street parking at your current address
nowhere on the property where suitable parking could be created (for example a garden)

We will consider applications from blue badge holders not covered by these criteria only in exceptional circumstances.

You can only make an application for bays on public roads. You can find out whether your road is public or private though the adopted roads gazetteer.

What you will need to supply

Documentation we will need:

a copy or photograph of both sides of your Blue Badge
a copy or clear photograph of either:
- the registered vehicle document (V5C) OR
- a copy of Motability agreement OR
- for leased cars, a copy of the lease agreement OR
- for company cars you'll need to provide proof from your employer that the company car will be kept at your address overnight
a photograph of your house showing where the vehicle is normally parked

Disabled parking example photograph — Example of photograph required

How to apply

Email the documents listed above to either adultcontactteameast@cheshireeast.gov.uk or adultcontactteamsouth@cheshireeast.gov.uk giving your name, address and contact details.

We progress requests for disabled bays on a first come first served basis within the funding available for the financial year.

After you have made your application

Step 1 – Eligibility check

We will check your eligibility to submit an application for a disabled parking bay within 20 working days of receiving it.

Step 2 – Practical check

If eligible, your application will then be assessed within the following 20 working days, to determine whether the bay can be marked on the road at a suitable location from a practical perspective.

Where appropriate, we may let neighbouring property owners know that we are planning to install a disabled parking bay close to your property. They have 21 days to comment on the proposal and these will be considered as part of the decision-making process. Their comments may result in a delay to progressing with the bay request.

Step 3 – Decision

Once we have completed the eligibility and practical checks, we will inform you of the decision reached.

Step 4 – Delivery

We aim to mark the disabled bay on the road as soon as we can and will tell you when that will be in advance. Occasionally we may have to change our work plans at short notice due to unforeseen circumstances such as adverse weather conditions and other works on the highway. If this is the case we will let you know when we can reschedule the work.

Who can use the bay

Anyone who is displaying a valid blue badge in their vehicle can park in a disabled parking bay on the road, even if the bay is outside your home.

Faded disabled parking bay markings

We will only refresh or maintain disabled bay markings if the markings are affected by the council’s highway resurfacing or patching works. You can view our highways programme map for details of upcoming works.

Removing a parking bay

If a disabled parking bay is no longer needed please contact us on either adultcontactteameast@cheshireeast.gov.uk or adultcontactteamsouth@cheshireeast.gov.uk.

Reasons why we may not be able to offer a bay

Some applications meet all the criteria but may still be rejected, if:

it would put you or other road users in danger
it would be too close to a junction or bend
it would block a turning point in the road
the road is too narrow
it is requested in a location where parking restrictions already apply
it would be located off the road, such as a verge, as this would involve construction work
it would be located on land which is not under the control of Cheshire East Council
it would be in a location where there are obstacles such as sign posts, lighting columns, bus stop, traffic calming measures etc
it would block someone else’s access to their property
there is insufficient funding available for installation or maintenance of the road markings
objections are raised by neighbours that cannot be resolved

Page last reviewed: 07 August 2024