Calls for Bathurst Regional Council to address lack of parking in CBD

The issue was raised at the last meeting of council on June 1 when Cr North asked the general manager if there had been any progress made on building a multi-storey car park within the city.

Due to the introduction of the mobile parking enforcement car, more and more people who work in CBD businesses are being fined for not moving their vehicles throughout the day.

Cr North said that if a multi-storey car park can’t be built, council needs to find another solution for people who are unable to move their car due to work commitments.

“We know that fixing the [BINC car park] in Keppel Street has given us a few more spots, but we really need to look at what we can do for people who work in businesses,” he said.

Bathurst Business Chamber president Stacey Whittaker believes there are a number of options council could pursue to ease the pressure on workers.

“We need more long-term parking areas,” she said. 

“You usually find the areas that are close to the CBD are taken up by council staff.”

Ms Whittaker believes one of the easier solutions would be to extend some of the timed parking spots around the city from one or two hours to three or four hours and add parking meters.

“It gives people the opportunity to go out during their lunch breaks and pay the meter,” Ms Whittaker said. 

She also believes carpooling could be a viable solution as the CBD gets busier, limiting the number of cars using long-term parking during the day.

This would also ease the frustration of residents who live on the outskirts of the CBD, who regularly have people taking up on-street parking in front of their homes.

But, if you ask Ms Whittaker, the best thing council could do is “move with the times” and create a multi-storey parking near the centre of the CBD.

“They’ve got a perfectly good car park behind the RSL, so why they don’t make that multi-storey I don’t understand,” she said. 

Alternatively, Ms Whittaker said, adding marked parking guidelines, like those found on  George Street, on more CBD streets would reclaim spaces that are lost due to bad parking.