Parking charges hiked up

A COMMONWEALTH Games increase in parking fees at popular Gold Coast shopping centres has drawn furious criticism from a city leader.

The Strand at Coolangatta is hiking its parking fees by up to 212 per cent for the Games period beginning Friday while all day parking at Lawson Street in Southport will jump 400 per cent.

All day parking fees at Chevron Renaissance Shopping Centre in Surfers Paradise have more than doubled from $20 to $45 while all day parking at Oracle Boulevard in Broadbeach will jump 50 per cent from $20 to $30. All parks are run by Secure.

Fees for staying in The Strand’s Secure-run car park for more than five hours will jump from $16 today to $50 until April 12.

The centre currently offers three hours of free parking which will be cut back to two hours, while fees for staying between two and five hours will jump from between $4 and $13 to $35.

Centre management has defended the decision but firebrand Gold Coast councillor and carparking campaigner Dawn Crichlow has slammed the increase.

“This is wrong and it is going to give the Gold Coast a bad name,” she said.

In a statement to the Gold Coast Bulletin, The Strand’s management said the changes in fees was part of a strategy to deal with parking shortages in the area. “Road closures will result in decreased street parking and during these seven days, we need to address car parking availability for our customers,” the statement said.

“Our typical customer spends an average of 1.5 hours at the centre and will not be impacted by these rate changes.”

Area councillor Gail O’Neill said parking would be at a premium during the Games and that a shortage was to be expected.