Paid parking proposal in Kensington rejected

The City of Melbourne says it will not introduce paid street parking along the trainline near Kensington Station after it was proposed during a community parking review workshop.

The metered parking was mooted for Bellair and Eastwood streets along the railway line at a rate of $1 an hour.

The proposal was raised by a facilitator at a council-run workshop on April 18 as part of the Kensington Neighbourhood Parking Review, which is part of a broader review and update of parking across the city.

According to a participant and Kensington resident Leo McCartin, the workshop facilitator presented a slide show of the proposed metered parking.

Mr McCartin expressed concern that paid parking would have a negative impact on the community, not only for residents, but also their visitors, struggling local businesses, and commuters who do not live close to Kensington Station.

Mr Leo addressed councillors at their May 7 Future Melbourne Committee meeting during public question time objecting to the proposal.

In response, Lord Mayor Sally Capp made it clear that no metered parking would be introduced.

“There is no consideration of metered parking being introduced to the train side of Bellair or Eastwood streets,” she said.

“We thank you for your participation and will be available for ongoing conversations and questions into the future on parking. We do understand how important it is.”

“This is part of a new way of going forward where we’re doing parking reviews every 12 months.”

Mr McCartin said the council’s decision was a good outcome for the community.

“The proposal to meter parking along the railway line completely ignores resident wishes to have unmetered parking as the present two-hour parking on the other side of these streets is and will be insufficient for their parking needs,” he said.

“It flies in the face of getting people on trains and keeping cars out of the central city. No one will pay for a parking meter then a train fare. Some stations up the line even have free car parks to encourage train use.” •

He added there was an opportunity to put more resident parking in streets in the area.

Caption: Kensington resident Leo McCartin opposed metered parking in Bellair and Eastwood streets. Photo: Hanna Komissarova.