Alderman Elise Archer, Chairperson of Finance & Corporate Services Committee (who is also a Liberal candidate for Denison in the State election) says that the committee yesterday recommended that parking at Salamanca from Gladstone Street to the Silos should remain free on Sundays but that there should be a three hour time limit.

“The general feeling of the committee was that there was insufficient evidence at this stage to justify charging a fee for parking on Sundays at Salamanca between Gladstone Street and the Silos purely to encourage people not to park there all day or for extended periods. Therefore, the committee has recommended that signs advise of a three hour time limit on Sundays and that there be a report back to the committee in six months’ time to determine if this has resolved some of the businesses’ concerns that people park there all day”, says Ald Elise Archer.

“The difficulty I had was that a survey undertaken by our council officers to date revealed that only 13% had parked in this area from 10am to 3pm (a period of five hours) without moving on. It should be noted that this item on the agenda only came to council at the request of some of the businesses who were concerned about people parking at Salamanca for extended periods of time or all day (and not at council’s instigation). However, when all Salamanca businesses were surveyed (100), the majority of those who returned the survey (65%) were not in favour of charging for parking on Sundays.”

“It is my personal belief that Council should have very strong and sufficient evidence to justify charging for parking on Sundays simply to discourage all day parking. Based on the current survey, the percentage doing this is quite minimal. However, by encouraging a maximum three hour stay, it will be useful to monitor the situation in the next six months with a further and more specific survey to see if there is an improvement for the businesses concerned.”

“Full Council will decide the issue at its next meeting on Monday, 14 December 2009”, says Ald Elise Archer.
Alderman Elise Archer Chairperson, Finance & Corporate Services Committee Hobart City Council (Liberal for Denison)