THE MISUSE of blue badges will be discussed at an upcoming council meeting.

Darlington Borough Council will hold its next Place Scrutiny Committee meeting on Thursday, September 1.

Members of the committee are expected to discuss a report relating to monitoring and eligibility issues related to the use of blue badges.

The blue badge scheme, designed to help disabled people travel independently, provides parking concessions for those with mobility problems.

The report that will be presented to the scrutiny committee sets out recent changes to the processing of applications, which are now completed over the phone.

It says checks used when issuing blue badges have been “considerably tightened” to address potential misuse at the time of issue.

It adds: “A blue badge is to aid mobility so it is not unreasonable to ask all applicants to attend the town hall to prove their condition…

“Seeing everyone face-to-face to complete ID checks and photo has reduced the risk of fraud considerably and speeded up the whole process.”

The report says identifying misuse following the issue of a blue badge can be time consuming, labour intensive and difficult.

However, the authority has so far rejected the idea of an undercover enforcement team, saying that that the action was not necessary in Darlington.

Instead, the town’s parking wardens can seize badges they believe are stolen or fraudulently used and did so 57 times in 2015.

The meeting will take place from 9.30am at the Town Hall with members of the public entitled to attend.