All-Day Parking To Be Squeezed Into Two Blocks in Vincent

Car parking has long been a thorny issue in inner-urban Vincent. In addition to the activity generated by the City's town centres, some streets have effectively become car parks for City of Perth commuters who, rather than pay up to $20 a day for parking in the City, park for nothing and pay less than $2 each way for a 2-section bus ride.

Vincent has progressively introduced time restrictions, coupled with resident/visitor parking permits to manage this, as well as some paid parking in Mt Lawley/Highgate and Leederville town centres.

The latest expansion of time-restricted parking will take effect from 1 July 2017 and covers the area around the North Perth town centre, between Charles and Norfolk Streets.

This, in itself, is a logical extension of Council's parking policy in response to increasing pressures on its town centres - and recent improvements to bus services through North Perth (even if it doesn't look like the MAX light rail will be resurrected any time soon!). On Vincent Street it will also improve parking availability during the week for users of Hyde Park, including the water playground, without having to shepherd children across busy Vincent Street.

However, it has the unfortunate consequence that the area between Norfolk Street and William Street, from Vincent Street northwards, will be the only area in reasonable proximity to the Perth CBD across the whole of Vincent that does not have time-restricted parking. Some of these streets, notably Vincent Street and Chelmsford Road, are already parked out soon after 8am on weekdays and the increased restrictions elsewhere will force even more all-day parking into this area.

From a community perspective, one of the most disquieting aspects is the lack of consultation with (or even information to) residents of the area between Norfolk and William Streets. The proverbial Blind Freddy could see that this area is going to bear the brunt

I am a resident of Vincent Street and only found out about the changes (apparently first mooted back in November 2016) when I contacted City of Vincent about another parking matter on Vincent Street.

Vincent Council has severely let down the residents of the area between Norfolk and William Streets and should urgently implement similar time restrictions for this area.