March of meters heading downhill Author: By JASON GORDON Civic Reporter Date: 04/12/2006 Publication: Newcastle Herald Section: News Page: 3
WHILE the fight rages against Newcastle City Council's plans for more parking meters on The Hill, areas around Cooks Hill and Newcastle West have emerged as the next likely targets.
Council reports obtained by The Herald identify a proposal to implement "paid on-street parking" in Cooks Hill and Newcastle West.
Maps show that areas earmarked for review at Cooks Hill include streets bordered by Darby, Parry, Union and Laman streets.
At Newcastle West, the map identifies an area bordered by Hunter, Parry, Union and Tudor streets.
A council spokeswoman said "full investigations" had not begun but the council approved a parking strategy in 2002 that identified Cooks Hill and Newcastle West as "implementation stages" after The Hill was full.
A decision on new meters at The Hill is expected at the council's December 12 meeting.
Opponents of the plan have submitted a petition to the council that has about 2800 signatures and state Labor candidate for Newcastle Jodi McKay has joined the campaign with a petition of her own.
A report that council staff are preparing for the meeting will recommend that the extension of parking meters to The Hill be approved but details obtained by The Herald show some zones will be classified as all-day parking areas in which motorists will be charged 40 cents an hour instead of the $1.70 an hour charged elsewhere in the city.
The move provides better news for the city's motorists than expected but is certain to generate more criticism of the council, which has argued that the purpose of metered areas is to make parking spaces available more often.
At best, the proposed all-day zones will not free up any spaces but will reap the council 40 cents an hour from spaces that are available now free.
Mitchell Brain, who has led the campaign against The Hill meters, said opposition to more parking meters was overwhelming despite assertions from some councillors that most residents support the move.
The chronic shortage of parking spaces in the central business district is set to worsen late next year, when work is due to begin on the demolition of the council-owned King Street parking station.
A new one will be built in its place as part of the "stairway to heaven" retail and residential development planned by the owners of Market Square but with fewer parking spaces.