Group to set parking plan

Horsham Rural City Council is developing a parking management plan for the city’s business heart and surrounding areas.

The council will establish a representative reference group from key sectors such as retail and business, sport and recreation, mobility groups and the older community to help identify Horsham car-parking issues.

The key aims for this plan are to: • Develop guiding principles for parking management in Horsham’s core retail area and review and identify appropriate time restrictions and locations. • Develop a parking-permit management policy including permits for special events, organisations with special parking needs and in residential areas where needed. • Identify appropriate locations of different types of parking such as accessible, long vehicle, loading bays and so on.

Communities and place director Kevin O’brien said it was important the council managed its parking to support retailers and business as well as providing access to customers and regular visitors to the city.

“This project is not about the urban design of car-parking spaces. It is about ensuring we provide the appropriate time restrictions in the right locations to ensure the community is able to shop, visit, do business, have meals and attend facilities in Horsham in a convenient and accessible way,” he said.

“We also need to ensure there is an appropriate turnover of car spaces to support businesses.”