Inner-city residents are divided on the issue of the City of Sydney’s Neighbourhood Parking Policy redraft after a Planning and Committee Meeting was held on May 6. The meeting, held at Town Hall, allowed residents to express concerns or support for the proposed redraft of the policy.
The proposed redraft includes revisions to the amount of parking permits to be distributed in select zones, quantity of visitor parking permits, as well as the boundaries and reducing the number of parking precincts in the city from 31 to 14.
Jeanette Brockman addressed the Council members on behalf of the Chippendale precinct and urged them not to approve any changes to the policy until further consultation had been sought for the densely populated suburb. “As you know, we’ve got some major challenges in Chippendale. Our local population will have increased by over 9,000 residents from 2011 to 2017 by the time Central Park is finished. In terms of the actual roads system, people can’t park on a lot of the major roads, so they’re forced to park in the area. That’s going to increase because of the changes to the light rail and the access routes.”
Ms Brockman used the example of Bartley Street to illustrate the suburb’s issues.
“You’ve got residents from Abercrombie and Cleveland streets parking in the residential areas, you’ve got the businesses that have converted their garage space into storage space or commercial space – so three out of four businesses on that street will actually use the commercial areas. And they’ve then got the loading zones and they’ll also get the business permits on top. So we face a really inherent challenge.”
Other residents are supportive of the policy changes. Joy Brookes of Alexandria spoke out for the success of trial parking initiatives in the inner western suburbs. “I’m here to support the policy, I think it’s great. We’ve only had restricted parking in the last few years, mainly for people commuting out to Channel 7, the airport, Redfern station and such. Although things aren’t perfect now, they’re so much better. So much better. I can get home and get a park usually in my street. I don’t want to block the progression of the policy – I want it to move ahead.”
The major point of contention with residents was the amalgamation of parking precincts. Areas of concern included Darlinghurst, Kings Cross, Potts Point, Paddington and Chippendale. Many representatives from Paddington were worried about the merging of Paddington and Surry Hills.
Richard Green of area 15 (Flinders St) does not support combining the precincts because of the special nature of the current zone. “I don’t believe we should change our area – we shouldn’t amalgamate the areas as our area is very unique. It’s near COFA [College of Fine Arts], it’s near the SCG [Sydney Cricket Ground]. It’s got the pressure of Oxford Street. The justification of amalgamating – that you can hop from one area to another – does not apply to us.”
Ms Brockman has urged that the Council continue to look at the specifics of each area, and not implement a “one-size-fits-all” agenda. “We understand that you want to have a uniform policy but we’re actually thinking that Chippendale is quite different to other areas. And there are more challenges being presented because of the university’s expansion.”
When adopting the parking scheme changes at its full meeting the following week, Council took on board many of the opinions expressed on May 6. Areas 15, 17 and 21 will remain separate precincts and the CEO has been asked to review options to more effectively provide permits for tradespersons.
Council will also begin consultation in parts of Paddington and in Surry Hills, Kings Cross and Chippendale to address those suburbs’ particular needs.
