These are the comments of those who responded. They have been edited.

​Central Ward

Vicki Etheridge: The council needs to call for expressions of interest to develop the old Hyra ford car park with either residential or hotel accommodation and shops with a provision made for abundance of free car parking. 

John Ryan: Dubbo's CBD has been so poorly planned for decades that any major change would be expensive and difficult.

One option we could explore would be a paid all-day, multi-level carpark in a central location, but not on the floodplain.

Josh Black: There is no cheap, easy fix here due to the existing higgledy piggledy planning.

A multi-level carpark somewhere central, such as the Myer carpark, would work well. 

Greg Matthews: It’s odd that people will happily park at the outer edges of the mall’s carpark without complaint but ignore Bligh Street parking when shopping in the CBD.

However, the council will need to look at additional car parks which could include a Bligh Street parking station to bring the parking level with Macquarie Street.

Council’s policy has been to improve parking whenever possible.

In my time on the council this policy led to the purchase of the old Harold W Taylor site for parking on Bligh St, the car park on the corner of Talbragar St and Darling Sts and the carpark at the Aquatic Leisure Centre.

Kris Stevens: I would like to see additional parking along Macquarie Street for the elderly, disabled and the various modes of public transport.

Parking areas on Bligh Street desperately need to be improved and expanded with connectivity to Macquarie Street and consideration given to all weather access.

So too, for Talbragar Street and the parking facilities in the lane behind it.

The drivers of Dubbo need to realise a change of behaviour is required as the city grows - it is no longer realistic to think you can always get a park outside your destination.

South Ward

Greg Mohr: Parking is the number one issue in the CBD.

Unfortunately, over the years nothing has been done to alleviate the problem.

The council needs to build a multi-storey car park so people can access the CBD.

The carpark also needs to be user friendly so the elderly and disabled do not have to travel long distances to get into the CBD.

Some sort of user friendly transportation can be put in place to ferry people from the carpark to the main street if needed. 

Manny Portelli: It is not that we have insufficient space, it is that we cannot park exactly where we want to.

I have a business in Church Street.

My employees and I always park in Bligh Street which requires a bit of a walk.

But, it does free up Church Street.

On Bligh Street there is still a lot of parking available.

Maybe we require to walk a little bit, which can be annoying but it is healthy.

There is always the answer of building a multi-storey parking area but this is outside my area of expertise.

Douglas Prior: Council continues to expand parking places as needed.

I don't think it is a major problem. 

Kevin Parker: Parking can be a problem.

One has to get used to not being able to park outside the business they want to visit. [There is] ample parking in Bligh St and other areas.

North Ward

Ben Shields: I’d like to call expressions of interest for companies (and dare I say) developers who may want to work in partnership with the council to develop the old Hyer Ford carpark into a residential or commercial complex that has an abundance of free car parking available. 

Currently we have a major shortage of parking spots in the CBD – especially around the Church and Brisbane Street area.

We should be actively investigating any more land that could be purchased for car parking in this area.

Merrilyn Mulcahy: There are areas that could be used to provide more parking, which would make access to shopping in the CBD a much easier thing to do.

More shoppers will bring more businesses. 

Jane Diffey: I believe we have two options: that the council builds a carpark at a cost to ratepayers and parking is provided at no charge or the council encourages a private investor to build a carpark and the parking is pay for use.

East Ward

Dayne Gumley: Council needs to work harder to bring new business to Dubbo.

In doing so those businesses can provide further parking as a condition of their development

Stephen Lawrence: Generally parking in the CBD is reasonably accessible in my opinion, though at certain peak times it can be difficult to get an ideal park and this is harder on families with small children.

Businesses must continue to be required to develop carparks as developments occur.

I think we do have an expectation in Dubbo of finding parking easily and managing those expectations may be part of what needs to happen.

Building CBD carparks or the like will not be my priority if elected. 

Cody Jones: This is one of those difficult topic areas because everyone wants to get a close park in the CBD and at times this isn’t possible.

I think people do need to manage their expectations around parking in the CBD but equally we do need to ensure that there are more disability parks available for those in need close to ramps leading up to the footpath so they can easily access the shops without having to struggle.

Ana Pateman: I do not believe there is a problem of insufficient parking.

I think we in the country are too used to being able to park very close to where we want to go.

Chris Edwards: I agree that parking at times can be very hard to find in the CBD.

I would like to see the carpark on the corner of Talbragar and Darling street extended and investigate making it multi-level so as to cater for all those attending the Theatre, Civic Centre and Number 1 Oval.

Also there is an opportunity for development of a multi-level car park on the river side of Macquarie Street.

Wellington Ward

Jacob Perry: The ridiculously wide footpaths, median strips, crammed car parks and blocked off streets have all contributed to this.

We must stop going overboard on such unnecessary actions like blocking off streets and restricting road users’ access.

The car parks are too small as it is and limited as it is so we should encourage those who work in the main street to park at the back of their employers’ work if applicable and if working or shopping at Centro or Riverdale, for instance, park at that premises not on the main.

David Grant: I would be interested in finding out what peoples’ issues and concerns are in relation to parking in the CBD.

As someone who travels into Dubbo regularly I haven’t experienced a problem, but I am someone who is happy to walk a block or two to get to where I need to go.

Is the issue more in relation to people less mobile or for those who work in the CBD and need all day parking?

Nine candidates had not responded by publication time.

They are: Lisa James, Tyler Przerada, Nathan Ellis, Nikki Catelotti, Shayne Stiff, Anne Jones, Mark Griggs, Mike Augee and Adam Ryan.

Parking has long been an area of contention in Dubbo’s central business district, with many residents concerned about increased congestion when they make business or shopping trips.

Lack of parking was one area for improvement identified through DRC’s “Ignite Our Centre” campaign. Many residents have called for the council to construct a multi-level CBD car park.

Solving parking requirements was one of nine ideas to improve the CBD that were under development by the DRC earlier this year. The ideas were taken from the “Ignite” list of “50 Bright Ideas”. The DRC undertook to investigate current parking requirements for various types of business activities in the CBD.