George Eustice, MP for Camborne, Redruth and Hayle, has today welcomed the news that carers in Cornwall will soon be able to get new parking permits which will help them to avoid struggling to find parking spaces.
Cornwall Council will be one of the first areas in the South West to introduce the new permits from April. The permits will work in a similar way to blue badges issued to disabled motorists and will allow accredited carers to park on yellow lines or for free in council car parks. The permits will have a charge just to cover the administration of them and Cllr Brown said it would be no more than £10 a year. There are an estimated 6.5 million in people in the UK providing unpaid care for a loved one, and in Cornwall it is estimated that this figure could be as high as 64,000 unpaid carers. The care they provide is estimated by some groups to be worth the equivalent of £132 billion per year if it needed to be replaced by formal, paid care, that is right that we work hard to support those who provide care to others.
George Eustice said, "We all know someone who is a carer for a loved one. Whether that someone is caring for their parents in old age or whether it is parents caring for a disabled child or, indeed, a child or young person who helps care for one of their parents in cases where they are struck by serious illness. Its important that we support carers in our community and I'm glad that Cornwall Council have introduced this measure to help those who need it the most."
You can read a copy of George's recent articles on carers and the work that is being undertaken to support them at: http://georgeeustice.blogspot.com/2018/10/carers.html
