Council to consider community input into Carlton neighbourhood parking review

The City of Melbourne has hosted a third and final Carlton parking review workshop in February due to overwhelming demand from the community.

The workshops, which have been held over the past few months, have allowed residents and business owners to have their say on proposed parking improvement options.

It is part of the council’s draft Parking and Kerbside Management Plan, which the council hopes to “achieve the best outcomes” as it reviews and updates on-street parking across the municipality.

“We'll do this by applying consistent principles and use parking controls that reflect neighbourhood needs in a simple, fair and effective way,” the council said.

“To achieve this, we will introduce a demand-based pricing model for parking in the next two years,” the plan said.

“Over time, regular reviews of parking data will consider how demand changes by time of day, day of the week and seasonally throughout the year. This will lead to lower prices at off-peak times.”

Community members attend a workshop at Kathleen Syme Library and Community Centre. Photos: Hanna Komissarova.

Three workshops have been in Carlton including at the Kathleen Syme Library and Community Centre on February 6. All Feedback from the Carlton Neighbourhood Parking Review has now closed.

Carlton Inc executive officer Phil Mansour said more “ample free parking” was needed in the area, which would encourage more people to shop, dine, and support local businesses.

“It’s really important we have one- and two-hour parking free to ensure we’re in a good position to attract people to the area,” he said.

“If they go and jack the prices up everywhere then it’s obviously going to cause problems.”

For more information or to help inform the next review visit the Neighbourhood Parking Survey.