Free parking coming to an end

ACROSS the board free parking in the City of Ballarat will end on Tuesday when the municipality switches back on the parking meters.

The devices were switched off in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic but mayor Ben Taylor said now is the time to return to the City’s original Smarter Parking Plan.

“What we can see is we’ve got a whole lot of people starting to come back into the CBD,” he said. “That’s with work, but most importantly supporting businesses that are here that are opening up.

“What we can see now is there are zero car parks available. So it’s really important that we look at the turnover of car parks and make sure those car parks are available.”

While the meters are being turned back on in what the city calls zone one, nothing changes in zone two where there’s free but time limited parking.

Cr Taylor said the Creswick Road car park, which was opened earlier in the year will remain free “in the short term” for city workers and those who need to park in the CBD but can’t afford the more than $20 a day cost of keeping a car in zone one from 9am to 5pm.

Also staying for the time being are the 10-minute zones, set up by the City to help with quick pick ups from downtown shops and restaurants. One free hour of parking in paid areas will once again apply.

Commerce Ballarat CEO Jodie Gillett said that her members and other traders in the paid parking zone had been calling for the meters to be switched back on for a few weeks.

“The retailers need it, hospitality needs it” she said. “Business will be happy to see the parks moving.

“We’ve been inundated with calls and emails from our members saying that their customers can’t get to them. We’re not talking about being able to park out the front of their business, but not being able to get to them at all.”

Ms Gillett said when paid parking was returned and the churn of parking spaces meant that it was easier to get into the CBC, it would be a great opportunity to drive the local economy.

“Our business community provides our jobs, so we need to help them recover,” she said. “It’s going to take a long time. This is not something that’s going to be fixed in the next few weeks or the next few months.

“We need our community to support our businesses as much as we can.”

The City of Ballarat estimates it lost about $7 million in fees and charges since making parking free across the city.