CITY centre disabled parking bays in Southampton are set to be scrapped in a move that campaigners say would risk the safety of vulnerable motorists.

Blue badge holders have been left outraged after a budget proposal revealed they could lose their parking privileges in the city.

In a move that could raise much-needed cash, council bosses want to scrap the disabled bays which currently fill two streets and replace most of them with pay and display areas.

It’s a move which could make the council up to £150,000 in the next five years but campaigners have warned it would see disabled motorists struggling to find a space and resorting to parking over double yellow lines.

Council transport chief Jacqui Rayment said it was one of a number of proposals being looked at and that disabled badge holders had “other options” when it came to parking.

The streets set to have disabled bays slashed are Ogle Street and Portland Street and a combined 17 bays will be taken over by pay and display spaces.

A spokesman for the city council suggested that these bays were being targeted because data showed they are underused.

He added: “This proposal would see some spaces move to shared use. This will create flexibility, increasing the number of spaces available to all.

“This change would not disadvantage disabled motorists, the sizes of the spaces will remain the same and disabled drivers will still be able to park at no cost.”

But disabled badge holders who regularly use the spaces have said they already struggle to find a bay without competing with other drivers.

And a Daily Echo investigation revealed the spaces were in high demand when reporters visited the streets to witness the usage rate.

The move comes after new budget proposals revealed Southampton City Council will have to cut 180 jobs as the authority grapples with a £48 million black hole in the city’s finances.

Daily Echo:

Blue badge holders are currently able to park in a disabled pay and display bay for free and for as long as they need and the badge also allows them to park on double yellow lines – but only for three hours.

Disabled organisation workers in the city are concerned this proposal would target a vital service for vulnerable people.

A spokeswoman for Scope said: “It’s an awful idea, once they start cutting they’ll just keep going. Parking on yellow lines is not safe and disabled bays are made to make getting out of a car easier. It’s targeting a vulnerable part of Southampton’s society in an unfair way, they are a necessity to a lot of people and once those spaces become pay and display for everyone else they will never be available because parking is very hectic in the city.”

Jacqui Rayment, cabinet member for environment and transport, said: “We are looking at a range of proposals and there are a lot of cuts to be made, we have to find £90million over a set number of years. We do not believe that this will affect disabled drivers in the way it’s being played out because if they have a blue badge then they will have options.

“These areas have been chosen because there is an abundance of bays in the city centre. We are trying to ensure that there are enough parking spaces to deal with demand and a number of people have told us they have often seen empty disabled bays and they haven’t got anywhere to park but disabled badge holders have other options.”

Opposition councillor and shadow member Steven Galton added: “As a matter of urgency we are seeking assurances on the full impact of these plans and evidence that they won’t negatively impact on disabled badge holders. If there are no issues or concerns then this could be supported and the only question then would be why was it not done any sooner?

• To contribute to the consultation log onto southampton.gov.uk.

“It seems like Labour has been told they have to make all these cuts and they’ve just gone into panic mode, it doesn’t feel like there is any reason.

“Disabled parking spaces are something people need and I think Labour seem to be targeting things that are only saving small amounts of money and not enough to get the budget down.”

Consultation on the budget proposals is currently underway and runs into the new year before the council agrees its budget for 2016/17 in February.