THE four year saga over residential parking in Baneswell could soon be over after police agreed on new orders to allow both disabled drivers and visitors to use permit spaces.

Existing orders will be withdrawn and replaced to allow disabled drivers and visitors to use the resident permit spaces.

Visitor passes can be bought for 60p per day singularly or in books of ten.

Orders in place in Baneswell will therefore need to be amended to bring them into line with the new orders.

This comes after years of debate over the legality of resident permit parking in Newport.

Objections date back to 2005 when the council’s orders allowed visitors but not disabled drivers to park in resident only spaces.

This did not comply with the Disabled Drivers Regulations and so police said the orders were unenforceable.

Rules published in 2007 created objections from residents that they prevented visitors from parking in the spaces and so cut off the elderly from their friends and family.

The council’s cabinet members, Peter Davies and David Atwell, last year renewed the orders to allow the disabled, doctors, nurses and health visitors to park in these bays and this has now been agreed by police.

Councillors Davies and Atwell have authorised for these new orders to be bought into force from December 1, through the urgent decision-making process.

Cllr Davies said they wanted to bring the orders in before Christmas and had already consulted with residents.

He said the orders will now be legal for the first time.