IT’S hard to see Bathurst Regional Council agreeing to a request from Bathurst RSL for more timed parking in the council-run car park behind the club.
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That’s not to say the club has done anything wrong in requesting the change, but council would leave itself open to a barrage of [justifiable] criticism if it was to put the wishes of the club’s members above the interests of the broader community.
Especially when council has gone a long way towards creating the dispute itself.
The introduction in March of licence plate recognition for council’s mobile parking officers sparked a huge spike in demand for the day-long spaces in that car park.
Where employees in the CBD might previously have been happy to take their chances by over-staying the time limits while they were at work, knowing that the two parking officers who were pounding the pavement could cover just a fraction of the CBD each day, they know their chances of being caught are much higher now.
And at more than $100 a pop, it does not take long for even the most carefree parkers to realise they need a better plan.
And the “RSL car park” is the obvious choice for many who work in the CBD as the closest untimed parking option.
Council cannot now abandon those workers without offering a suitable alternative.
The only option for council if it does intend to increase the amount of timed parking in its RSL car park would be to remove time limits on all the on-street parks in that part of the city – and we all know that’s not going to happen.
Unfortunately, that leaves many elderly RSL members facing a long walk from their car to the club but they should be blaming council, not the CBD workers who have been left with no choice but to take their spots.
