The Gold Coast Bulletin

Parking permits outcry

Residents claim no dialogue about two-hour limit

- PAUL WESTON

RESIDENTS across three northern Gold Coast suburbs are protesting as council plans to introduce two-hour parking permits in the lead-up to the Commonweal­th Games.

Labor Bonney candidate Rowan Holzberger yesterday staged a public meeting where more than 50 residents from Southport, Labrador and Parkwood vented about the lack of consultati­on by the council.

The changes to be introduced before the Games in April next year meant residents would be unable to park for more than two hours and need to obtain a traffic permit, Mr Holzberger said.

“I have already spoken to over a hundred residents within the proposed parking zone who want to have further consultati­on with council before any final decisions are made,” Mr Holzberger told the Bulletin.

“Due to the overwhelmi­ng community response I have received on this, today we have launched a petition asking council to make contact with residents and consider the accessibil­ity needs of all residents before putting in twohour restrictio­ns.”

Labrador resident Rolf Westin said he only became aware of the parking changes after being contacted by Mr Holzberger.

“There has been nothing (from council). The first I heard of it was when Rowan rang me. I was dumbfounde­d about having to have a permit.”

Mr Westin and other residents at a meeting at Chris Yeomans Park yesterday voiced concerns about the new permit system impacting on their property values.

The meeting was told the council’s consultati­on was limited to two newspaper advertisem­ents and a post on social media.

Independen­t Bonney candidate Ron Nightingal­e told the meeting: “There was no consultati­on on this. There was no sense to it.

“Why have we been hit? Why have we been inconvenie­nced all of a sudden?”

Area councillor Kristyn Boulton told the Bulletin the new parking regulation­s would be discussed at a council meeting on Thursday.

Council had placed newspaper advertisem­ents and consulted through its website but submission­s had now closed.

“The Commonweal­th Games is something on a scale we’ve never seen before, particular­ly for Labrador with the new Gold Coast Hockey Centre,” Cr Boulton said.

“There will be nine of these traffic areas across the city. Free permits will be available for residents and the street parking zoning will be in place 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday.

“It’s currently proposed to review the boundaries of the Gold Coast Health and Knowledge Precinct Traffic Area in May 2018 following the completion of the 2018 Commonweal­th Games.”

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