Some Southbankers “fed-up” with new parking changes

Following the implementation of the City of Melbourne’s new parking policy in Southbank earlier this year, some residents and business owners are calling for the council to backtrack on its decision.

The Parking and Kerbside Management Plan was endorsed by the City of Melbourne Council on May 17, 2023, and was created with the intent to guide its decisions around parking supply and how it manages demand for kerbside space.

As a part of the plan, new parking signs, meters, line markings and other assets have been rolled out to improve parking conditions across the city.

Since the implementation of the plan in Southbank, some parking conditions have been amended.

In many cases, what were previously all-day spaces have been reduced to three- and four-hour zones between 7am and 10pm, and parking is no longer free on weekends.

The vision of the plan was to provide reliable parking for all users, support the local economy and to allocate fairly to all users who need it.

However, some residents and business owners feel that the plan has not been “fair” to Southbank.

Ashwyn Donavan, the owner of 8 Miles café in Southbank, claimed that since the parking changes were made earlier this year, he had lost at least $10,000.

Mr Donavan’s café is located on Miles St and he said that the” biggest blow” for his business had been the decision to replace the three 15-minute parking spaces out the front of his shop with three-hour spaces.

According to the business owner who has lived in Southbank for 15 years, the 15-minute spaces were invaluable, and he would generate around $200 a day from customers who parked there.

Another change that has impacted Mr Donovan’s business is the sparse amount of all-day parking that exists in Southbank due to a lot of spaces being reduced to three- and four-hour zones.

The business owner has noticed a loss in regular customers who used to drive to work but now choose to stay home because of the lack of all-day parking available.

The reduced time of the all-day spaces has also affected guests of people who live in Southbank, and people who are visiting the area to dine or attend events in the Arts Precinct.

Rowena Cowan, an 8 Miles customer who has been a resident of Southbank for 13-years, said, “[before the changes] you could come here and park and go eat and drink and go to the theatre. Now you not only have to pay but you are limited to a three-hour window.”

Due to paid parking on weekends, Ms Cowan believes that it is impacting on their ability to have friends and family visit because they have to pay and their time is limited.

“I’m particularly concerned about the impact on older residents and people with disabilities who rely on carers, who the council is effectively putting a stopwatch on,” she said.

According to Tamara Boldiston, a resident and owners’ corporation committee member at The Sovereign on Wells St, the City of Melbourne had indicated that it planned to keep the changes for 12 months before amending.

But she added, “We hope they’ll see sense and make changes sooner.”

When community members raised their concerns to Lord Mayor Nicholas Reece at the Meet the Mayor Event hosted by residents’ group Southbank3006 in August, he said, “If something isn’t working, we’ll change it until we get it right.”

The Lord Mayor said that the council will seek to find ways to better regulate and optimise this scarce resource.

Southbank News contacted the City of Melbourne for further comment. •