By Charlene Gatt
NEARLY 700 parking spaces in Footscray will fall under paid parking by the end of this month, as the council rolls out an extra 30 parking meters.
The council will roll out 26 on-street paid parking machines this month on Hopkins St, Barkly St, Leeds St and Paisley St and four off-street machines at the carparks on the corner of French and Paisley streets and between Paisley and Pickett streets, and the carparks on Irving and Byron streets.
The new machines will cover 530 spaces around Footscray’s CBD.
Infrastructure services manager Ian Butterworth said the machines would encourage a more efficient turnover in parking spaces.
“It is now often difficult for shoppers to find a park in Footscray’s streets and off-street public car parks,” he said.
“Pay parking has been proven to enhance short-term parking opportunities – it will encourage a greater turnover of vehicles using these limited parking spaces.
“More cars parking in a single space means more shoppers, and improved trade for local businesses.”
Mr Butterworth said the council had not ruled out adding more machines in the future. The council reaped $269,877 over 2008-09 in parking machine revenue.
Parking fees currently stand at a maximum $1 per hour between 8am and 6pm, but this is likely to increase over coming months with the council and state planning bodies reviewing rates for all new developments in Footscray.
The council voted in favour of the new machines in March after a nine-month campaign from Footscray traders, who believe the machines would drive customers to shop at Highpoint or Sunshine.
Members of the Footscray Asian Business Association were particularly shocked about the decision because councillors John Cumming, Sarah Carter and Michael Clarke were strongly opposed to the parking metres in a pre-election survey.
Both Cr Clarke and Cr Carter backtracked on their election promise.
The council first introduced paid parking around the City of Maribyrnong in 2004 as part of its parking management strategy to alleviate the frustration of trying to find a car park in Footscray’s CBD.
