BAYSIDE Shopping Centre’s owners are being urged to scrap paid parking to encourage more visitors to Frankston’s city centre.
Frankston councillors have unanimously agreed to write to Vicinity Centres encouraging it to review paid parking at its Frankston shopping centre. The proposal was put forward by councillor Glenn Aitken at a meeting last Monday, 9 September.
Frankston Council administers its own paid parking scheme. After the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic it began offering free two-hour parking at Young Street, Cranbourne Road, Playne Street, and Mechanics Hall. Aitken said that despite failed attempts to advocate for free parking at Bayside Shopping Centre in the past, it is important to ask again.
“This is attempting to appeal to [Vicinity] as good corporate citizens to try and help reinvigorate Frankston’s town centre as a destination – a place for shoppers to come and spend time and spend money on products that they wish to purchase,” Aitken said. “If you don’t ask, you don’t get. If you don’t make an effort, nothing happens. Let’s try again and see if perhaps they’d be willing to accommodate the council and our community’s wishes.”
The motion raised by Aitken read that more free parking around Frankston would help accommodate the growing population. It read that council “encourages Vicinity Centres to now review its car parking philosophy at the Bayside Shopping Centre to be more consistent with other key centres connected by rail, such as at contemporary shopping centres owned by Vicinity Centres at the Glen, or those owned by Westfield at Southland where the first three hours parking are free.”
Vicinity Centres was contacted for comment.
First published in the Frankston Times – 17 September 2024