City of Ballarat’s new parking proposal flags the possibility of removing timed parking on CBD streets, with hourly fees until 7pm in the inner city.

Lana-Rose Fashion Boutique owner Tracey Spencer said more free two hour parking and another “long term asset” in a multi-storey car park was needed. 

“To bring people back to the CBD, I think we have to offer two hour parking, but have it free,” she said. 

“When something is on in town, there’s no parking for customers. Usually they’re going to the movies, which is good traffic for me and I’m not complaining, but there’s just not enough.

“We also need to have a park and ride, for people coming to town to do a shop.”

Ms Spencer said she now only does 30 per cent of her trade in-store, with the online market more lucrative. 

“You can see by the empty shops we’ve got,” she said. “It’s hard enough as it is just getting business, let alone being restrained by parking.”

Homeowners and renters living near Ballarat’s hospital precinct are concerned the city’s new parking proposal ignores the issues plaguing their streets. 

A City of Ballarat plan to radically change the CBD’s parking includes a wider paid parking zone with no time limits. Motorists will pay between 50 cents and $2 per hour across the CBD.

Residents in the paid parking zone will receive one free parking permit per household, with a cost of $100 to $200 for subsequent permits. 

Severe parking stress in the hospital precinct was instigated by changes to the city’s CBD parking strategy last year, with two hour and three hour parking implemented on Webster Street. 

As a result, Lyons Street became the closest free all day parking to the hospital. 

Read more Ballarat to undergo massive parking overhaul

Grant Perch, a resident of Johnson Street for more than 26 years, said the street’s safety issues compounded by workers parking bumper to bumper were not going away without time limits.

“With the new all day parking at 50 cents an hour, it’s not going to resolve the problem,” he said. 

“Now its worse, because if friends or family do come, they have to pay to visit.”

City of Ballarat officers said in a report it became “apparent” the objective of achieving a balanced outcome for parking “would not be achieved via the simple implementation of a three hour parking restriction”.

Johnson Street resident Chris Page doesn’t have off-street car parking or a driveway. He said the number of people parking in his street “changed overnight” when parking restrictions were implemented on Webster Street.

“I have to use that first permit just to park my car,” he said. 

“It’s only about a dozen people near in our area that do not have off-street parking, so just put a ‘no standing, permit holders only’ sign up. That’s what we thought was going to happen.”

A council resolution at the February 21 council meeting stated City of Ballarat would ‘investigate and instigate’ three-hour parking in the precinct. 

Council also resolved to consider options to provide parking access for residents with no driveway access.

At the February meeting, councillor Belinda Coates said the change was more “significant” than she expected, compared to the original motion which just called for investigation. Councillor Daniel Moloney commended the recommendation, calling it a “bigger jump” than he was expecting. 

Mr Perch said he’d “lost all faith in the council” because of a lack of action around three hour parking in his street. 

“We think, quite simply, the council have fully reversed, and gone for a money grab and disadvantaged us even more,” he said.