Parking restrictions to change along Hawke St 

The City of Melbourne is extending parking restriction operating times in a busy pocket of West Melbourne after residents found it increasingly difficult to get a parking space.

The council said it understood it was hard to find parking spaces on weekends and night-time periods in Hawke St, between Railway Place and Adderley St, particularly when events were staged at Marvel Stadium or Festival Hall.   

The parking spaces are unrestricted at night-time and throughout most of the weekends, meaning visitors can park for free for long periods.  

“To improve parking opportunities for local residents and legitimate short-term visitors of this local precinct it is proposed to extend the operating time of the “two-hour limit” Area 5 Resident Excepted spaces to 7.30am to 11pm seven days per week,” the council said in a letter to residents.

“The centre-of-road ‘four-hour limit’ parking spaces and the unrestricted parking spaces adjacent to 119-211 Hawke St will remain unchanged to cater for longer term visitors to the area.”

The changes come after a recent parking survey conducted by the council confirmed the “two-hour limit” parking spaces had high occupancies particularly in the evenings when the parking restriction ceases to operate at 6.30pm on weekdays and 12.30pm Saturdays.   

Additionally, the council is undertaking an area-wide review of parking throughout the precinct which will consider a “thorough future rationalisation of parking restriction”.

“All property occupiers will be consulted about these proposed changes in mid-2023.”

Long-term West Melbourne resident Lawrence Angwin welcomed the parking restriction changes on Hawke St, but added the council needed to “look at the bigger picture”, particularly with how the night market at Queen Victoria Market impacted on parking for residents.

“A few blocks away in Capel St there’s two hours’ free parking, it’s very hard for residents to get parking,” he said.

“You’ve got to get home at 6pm when the night market’s on or you’re not going to get a car park in the street, it’s like a traffic circus with people driving around.

“Rather than do this piecemeal on the Hawke St area, I think they need to look at the effect of Queen Victoria Market and how to make it fairer for local residents to get parking, especially for people who live in the street.”

Mr Angwin said residents have previously mooted a proposal to divide West Melbourne into separate parking restriction areas, like what had been created in Carlton.

He added QVM also needed to be promoted as the place to get to by public transport with three to four trams and two train stations. •

Photo: Stephen Hatcher 2019, Melbourne Streets.