Milton Keynes care home under parking scrunity after elderly man injured in car park

After a disabled man injured himself walking through a car park, councillors have called for more disabled parking bays near an MK care home.

Following the incident where the disabled driver could not park, and ended up falling as a result of having to park in a non-disabled bay, councillor Zoe Nolan is now involved.

The purpose built Shenley Extra Care Village provides 300 homes for people aged 60+ and around 20 per cent of residents receive care and support.

However there are only 22 disabled parking bays - councillor Nolan claims that more accessible disabled parking bays are needed.

She said: “Milton Keynes Council sees the extra care homes as providing an important choice for older people to live independently. 
“However most residents are active, many residents drive, and many could do with access to disabled parking.

“There are 223 parking spaces but only 22 of these are disabled bays. 
“At present according to the Charitable Trust that runs the extra care home, only 30 residents have blue badges.

“I am a strong supporter of extra care villages, but given that many residents are disabled but still very active, though unable to walk far, there is a need for more disabled parking that is easy to park in and accessible for disabled people when getting out of their cars.”

The Trust has been informed of the incident but have not yet agreed to increase the number of disabled bays avalible.

Councillor Nolan believes that any future similar accommodation should have higher standards and numbers of disabled parking.

She added: “New council disabled bungalows have very good parking provision. I would like to see the Shenley Extra Care Village move more quickly on the number of bays provided and to commit to more bays in any future developments.”