By Derek Schlennstedt
Commuters and traders frustrated over lack of spaces…
Businesses in Belgrave are urging the council and state government to address a lack of parking in the town which they say is inhibiting customer access.
Sooki Lounge owner Steve Crombie said that customers would regularly complain of having to find parking spots and that, as a result, many customers were simply bypassing Belgrave rather than having to struggle to find a car park.
“Customers will continually tell us how they’ll just drive through our town because they can’t get a park because all the spots are taken up,” he said.
“They are choosing other places over Belgrave and aren’t even looking.
“The lack of parking for customers mainly during the day is having a suffocating effect on the town, businesses and the locals in general.”
It is believed the parking woes are being amplified by commuters who are being forced to park in spaces that are meant for customers or residents because of population growth and increased car ownership in the Yarra Ranges.
According to statistics from the Census, an analysis of car ownership in 2016 indicated that 65 per cent of households in Yarra Ranges Council area had access to two or more motor vehicles, compared to 51 per cent in Greater Melbourne.
Belgrave is situated at the end of the line with hills residents coming from across the Dandenong Ranges to use the station.
In 2016 a survey undertaken by RACV highlighted the problem of parking at Belgrave station when it reported that the majority of commuters drove to the station and that most of them were travelling 14 minutes to get there.
The survey also highlighted the most common annoyances that Belgrave commuters faced with “difficulty finding a car park at the station,” being the most reported.
According to the Metro trains website, Belgrave provides 161 car spaces, but Steve and a large group of Belgrave traders said it was not enough and more needs to be done because it will only get worse.
The businesses are proposing that a short-term solution would be to change some of the all-day parking locations to three hour parking spots and have brought the parking problem to the attention of MP James Merlino.
“Many of the parking spots are all day parking; we need to make these spots three hours.”
“It’s just going to get worse.”
Currently a petition has been created to improve the parking facilities in Belgrave which can be signed at https://www.communityrun.org/petitions/commit-funding-to-resolve-belgrave-s-parking-issues.
