Residents are concerned with the scope and effectiveness of a timed-parking trial recently conducted by the City of Greater Bendigo in the Sacred Heart Cathedral and Girton Grammar junior school precinct.
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The COGB tested two-hour parking bays in Rowan, Vine, Wattle, High, Short, Forest and Mackenzie Streets for four months to examine what impact it would have on traffic flow amid a legal challenge from residents worried about parking in the area.
Rowan Street resident Peter Stephens suggested the selected timed-parking bays had been manipulated by employees at nearby companies, who would regularly swap vehicles around when the two hour time slot was due to expire.
He suggested the limited scope of the trial – a handful of timed-parking bays were allocated to each street involved in the trial – indicated the council weren’t taking residents’ parking concerns seriously.
“The damage has already been done,” he said, suggesting previous decisions to waive car parking requirements for nearby student accommodation and businesses had created a complex problem.
Wattle Street resident Pam Hanson said the area had become a “car park for those working in the city”, and the trial had little impact on the current situation.
“I don’t think they (Bendigo council) are really listening,” she said.
Max Turner, who also lives on Wattle Street, suggested residents had asked council to conduct a substantial study of parking in the area.
“If they wanted to do something about it they would actually hold a significant traffic survey. People are very angry and feel as though we're just being treated with contempt,” he said.
“It (parking trial) is not alleviating any parking issues at all - it's pushing those people who work in the CBD further out.”
The COGB confirmed it had the results of the trial, but could not release the details until councillors had been briefed, which would occur in coming weeks.
Mr Turner is part of a group of 15 residents that are challenging a Bendigo council decision to approve development plans for the Aspire Precinct – an interfaith precinct adjacent to the cathedral – which waived the requirement for 40 car parks, meaning no parking spaces will be built at the precinct.
The case will be heard in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal early next month. The group has argued for residential permit parking in the area, which will be considered as part of a broader review into the COGB’s parking policy.
The COGB has previously said the results of the trial will inform its overall parking policy review but it will also be balanced by the needs of local businesses, tourists and others.
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