A new bid is underway to appeal to employees and businesses in the centre of Dubbo to park in untimed zones and leave the prime spots for customers.
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Dubbo Regional Council and Dubbo Chamber of Commerce have launched the campaign, advocating it to improve access and benefit the economy.
Mayor Ben Shields and chamber president Matt Wright teamed up on Monday to take the initiative into the CBD.
READ MORE: Leave timed parking for customers
They hand-delivered maps, detailing free parking areas within the city’s centre.
It comes a month after the chamber reported it received complaints from business owners and customers about some CBD businesses taking up parks in front of their premises, often all day.
Even if we can just get an extra 20, 30 cars even to change their habits, and to park in the long-term car parking spaces, that gives a big benefit to the CBD over time
- Ben Shields
In a letter accompanying the map, Cr Shields and Mr Wright appealed for “the valuable employees of CBD businesses” to use the long-term parking options, which would then leave more short-term parks available for customers.
“I am sure you will agree that we all want to see the CBD thrive and all businesses prosper, and this is a small way that you can drastically improve the accessibility of your business,” the letter signed by the pair said.
“I would personally genuinely appreciate if employees in the CBD would get behind myself and the president of the business chamber Matt Wright in supporting this initiative that we believe will bring immense benefits to the health and well-being of our local economy.”
When asked how the campaign’s success would be measured, the mayor said it was a good educational exercise and was not a costly one.
“Even if we can just get an extra 20, 30 cars even to change their habits, and to park in the long-term car parking spaces, that gives a big benefit to the CBD over time with ease of access so our customers are able to park in the prime spots,” Cr Shields said.
He said he hoped the campaign would change the culture, without the need for more parking inspectors, but he did not rule the move out for the future.
“I’m not someone who likes the idea of using a big stick when it comes to these things,” he said.
“I’d love to see our community get behind this initiative, and just from a little bit of re-education we can get a better outcome than going along and fining people.
“On the other hand if it does come to the stage where things aren’t working down there, maybe we will have to look at increasing our parking inspection regime.”
Faye Wheeler
I have been a journalist for more than a decade and in that time I have been keeping Daily Liberal readers up to date about issues affecting them and what's happening in their community. Throughout my career I have covered a range of rounds and most recently I have been focusing on the business round.
I have been a journalist for more than a decade and in that time I have been keeping Daily Liberal readers up to date about issues affecting them and what's happening in their community. Throughout my career I have covered a range of rounds and most recently I have been focusing on the business round.
