Parking headaches take toll on inner city Author: Aaron Buman Date: 10/08/2005 Publication: Newcastle Herald
ON Thursday July 21, Newcastle City councillors were given a briefing on car parking and you may or may not be surprised at what plans council have for Newcastle East and West nothing! Not one extra space! There is neither a vision statement nor any acquired land for such a purpose.
However the Honeysuckle development is currently looking to build a car park behind the Civic station.
Let's talk parking meters parking meters and timed parking (say two hours) on streets has different advantages. Pulling up, doing your business and moving on is what the retail of the CBD requires.
Why does Newcastle City Council not talk with the business community and plan parking for them? Then, property owners and business operators can plan for the future.
There are plenty of businesses that have different parking needs and the council does not consider them.
However, the worker who is there all day or the person who comes to see a doctor, solicitor or accountant, or the all-day shopper, all require more than two hours, so therefore need to park in a parking station.
Council's policy over the past nine years has been to move cars around, and chase the all-day parkers into the neighbouring residential suburbs, causing problems there.
Council's failure to create any additional spaces in the past nine years has resulted in a business community lacking confidence in the CBD.
Recently, Drake Recruitment with a staff of 12 left the city centre due to parking problems. I am aware of another seven businesses currently looking to leave.
Ask some of the major businesses that have left over the past five years, and most of them will tell you lack of parking for staff and customers was one of the main reasons they relocated.
The latest increase in parking fees for the inner city will cost business and jobs in the city. It may also spell the end of a true Central Business District, as we know it now. Just have a look at Honeysuckle.
Councillors were told by Nelson English, a parking engineer from Sydney, that council should have planned for additional parking stations years ago.
So why has this not been done? Council says that it has to continually inflate parking prices to a level where it may be possible to attract private investors. However, it has no idea as to the time frame this will take.
Council currently owns 95 per cent of the parking in the CBD. So what is stopping it from providing more? This situation urgently requires some strong management.
Where do the backpackers with their Kombi vans park? The guests of the B&Bs also have nowhere to park. The development of accommodation at the Great Northern Hotel will put further strain on this limited resource. So much for supporting tourism.
The Hunter Business Chamber has already relocated out of Newcastle West. What if the law courts leave their Church Street address in favour of a new location? It will be almost impossible to revive a city that lacks the basic requirement of parking.
Let's see what happens when the long-awaited Mall markets get up and running. Where are the 5000 to 6000 visitors, which the council says will come, going to find parking?
One of the advantages of paid parking is it generates an income. Would you pay a little more if more parking spaces could be provided? Council made $3 million on parking last year and expects to make $3.6 million this year. All of the money generated from parking goes into consolidated revenue.
Council told businesses when the multi-bay meters were introduced the money raised in the CBD would stay in the CBD. But it goes into consolidated revenue. Imagine what could be achieved for the Newcastle CBD with this money.
And let's not talk about where all the Section 94 developer contributions that have been paid over the last building boom have gone. Those funds should have been pooled and the parking station funded.
There is an 18-month waiting list for a space in Bolton Street parking station. This figure proves the demand exists for another parking station to be built.
The Gibson Street parking station is 40 per cent occupied by Newcastle City Council staff. Council should lead by example and ask its staff to park elsewhere.
Inner-city property owners, residents and other stakeholders deserve a strategy that encourages and provides parking for all who use the CBD.
Council needs to display leadership, invest in the future of this city to ensure it reaches its full potential.
Aaron Buman is a Newcastle City Councillor.