Veteran milkman echoes Armstrong Street traders calls for parking change

Malcolm McCann, who retired from full-time milk delivery work in December 2022 after more than 50 years, said making deliveries to Campana's, 1816 Bakehouse and The Forge on Armstrong Street could often be a nightmare.

Mr McCann, who is back working for Inglenook Dairy to help out, said there was only one loading zone physically located on Armstrong Street but that was often blocked by non-commercial vehicles.

READ MORE: 'Notoriously bad': CBD traders call for parking change amid customer decline

"They've got one loading zone near 1816 Bakehouse, one for the whole street. It's just not good enough," he said.

"I know some of the parking officers and one said, 'park anywhere you like if you can't get the loading zone. Park in whatever space that you can because we know that you're only going to be 15 or 20 minutes and then you're gone'.

"When I see that loading zone full and nowhere else to park, I go and do the rest of my round on Lydiard Street and come back and do it later on."

Mr McCann said there were other loading zones located on Mair Street but were often used by tradies or other commercial vehicles or emergency services.

"I think taking out the centre lane parking [on Armstrong Street North] was the biggest mistake they [City of Ballarat] ever made," he said.

"When you've got no loading zones and you're double-parked you get abused."

READ MORE: Your say: Does Ballarat's CBD parking need to change?

Mr McCann said the one-hour-free time limit for parking the city should become longer to encourage more visitors to the area.

"People go to Geelong or Bendigo because they can get three or four hours free parking," he said.

"This council has crucified these businesses by putting a time limit of one hour on the meters, and then you've got to pay.

"They're sending these businesses to the wall in more ways than one. You can see by the amount of shops that are closed here in Ballarat because of that fact."