Touted as their ‘first detailed policy position ahead of the Council elections’, the Byron Independents have announced their plans to expand pay parking in ‘other towns’ like Brunswick Heads and Mullumbimby.
According to the party’s lead candidate, Acting Mayor Michael Lyon, the move ‘will be essential to ensure that our visitors pay their fair share towards our infrastructure costs in the coming years’.
Cr Lyon is calling for the $55 charge for locals be removed, while raising the pay parking hourly rate for visitors only.
Review pay parking
He will move a motion at this Thursday’s Council meeting to review the pay parking scheme, Shire-wide.
Cr Lyon is also seeking in his motion a breakdown of ‘pay parking revenue from meters originating from residents of NRJO, being Byron, Ballina, Lismore, Kyogle, Richmond Valley and Tweed Shires vs those coming from elsewhere’.
Yet Council staff have flagged issues with that aspect of the motion, saying in the agenda that they ‘do not have the level of detail required to confirm where parking patrons originated’.
They write, ‘Consideration would need to be given to the capital costs to implement aspects of the Notice of Motion and impacts arising from Master Plan projects within town centres, such as the Green Spine in Mullumbimby and Tincogan Street works’.
Throughout councillors’ last five years in office, they have faced tough opposition to pay parking plans from both Bangalow and Bruns, with claims of inadequate traffic studies that underpin Council decision making.
Additionally, the towns’ business chambers cite the considerable impacts of COVID-19 restrictions on local business.
♦ Thursday’s Council meeting starts at 9am in the Council Chambers with public access.
If paid parking is to raise revenue for local infrastructure maintenance, surely it’s logical to apply a modest bed tax for tourists as well?
That power is with the State Government .
After a decade of living in Byron, I left when / because parking meters were introduced. I can’t stand the place because of them. And now they want to spread this abomination.
charging visitors to the northern rivers region for parking, not residents, will be a smart move. just do it!
This town was based on tourism and now they want charge people for parking when it should be rates going up tourists spend more money in community than locals do
Council may not have contemporary data on home origin of visitors, but it certainly has collected such data In the past. Consultants Veitch Lister, for example, conducted surveys in 2002. They presented a breakdown of visitor origins from NSW, Queensland, rest of Australia & overseas on Fridays & Saturdays.
Shame on you… businesses have suffered enough in the last two years…
How about Mobility parking/Disabled parking? It’s appalling in Bangalow.
The only spots are at the opposite ends of town, either at the top of the hill, or bottom, like the A&I Hall. Like I am supposed to hobble from there on my walking stick to access essential services? But no, we must cater to the rich Gold Coast tourists in. their Porsches and Teslas and AMG Mercs … no … wait! They are in fact Bangalow residents! Like the one who told me to “F*** off” the other day when it was raining and she parked her Tesla in the FoodWorks car park because as she said, in her own words: “I shouldn’t need to get wet”.
Lovely people the rich and infamous….