A PLANNED parking permit scheme for Chelsea traders has been put on hold pending further consultation with business owners.
Kingston Council was gearing up to introduce a 12-month trial of the parking permit scheme for business owners and staff in and around Chelsea shopping centre.
Some traders won’t dare park their cars near their stores – behind Chelsea shopping centre near Woolworths – because they fear being booked by inspectors.
Small business owners are often unable to leave their premises to move cars from 2-3 hour spaces, and employees on set shifts can’t leave shops unattended to move cars to avoid parking fines.
Cr Tamsin Bearsley said several Chelsea traders had raised concerns about the proposed trial parking permit scheme.
“Our Chelsea trader parking scheme has been a work in progress and it’s not over yet,” she said.
“After our decision at July’s meeting to implement a pilot scheme, we had a number of traders raise concerns.”
Cr Bearsley said she had listened to traders and also spoken to Woolworths, the largest trader affected. The supermarket will require more than the four-permit limit for its staff under the pilot scheme.
Traders queried the number of permits to be issued, the location of allocated spaces and the number of available permits.
Council had planned to issue a maximum of just 57 all-day parking permits for the trial – despite there currently being 96 all-day parking spaces in the area (‘Backlash over parking permits’, The News 13/8/14).
An annual permit fee of $268 per parking space had been mooted.
Dan Wilson, owner of a Chelsea media company, had criticised the council’s initial plan. He said it was “encouraging” that council was now willing to reconsider the proposal and listen to traders’ concerns.
“I accept there’s going to be a fee but I’d like to see one or two provided to sole traders at no extra cost since they already pay rates.”
Mr Wilson said it also made sense for the permit parking spaces to be available at the northern and southern ends of the car park without restrictions over where to park, since this would ensure anyone with a permit could park their vehicle.
Councillors unanimously agreed to discuss the trial parking permit scheme at December’s meeting after consulting with traders.
First published in the Chelsea Mordialloc Mentone News
