Poor parking creates Esk St tensions
“We’ve got to come up with a pragmatic solution. And we’re not going to come up with it today.”
Councillor Grant Dermody
Poor parking behaviour has led to tensions outside Invercargill Central on Esk St, the city council’s community wellbeing committee has heard.
Uber Eats and Delivereasy drivers picking up food for delivery, and courier and service vehicles, are parking on angles and in the footpath areas of shared traffic spaces, Ria Bond told the committee on Tuesday.
It had led to members of the public approaching drivers, and an incident two weeks ago “could have been quite severe”, she said. At present the council had only one parking officer, though it was working to bring in more.
Bond asked what the best way for the public to report bad parking was, and committee chairperson Darren Ludlow said people could go to the front desk of council offices, or “snap a photo and email it in’’.
Mana whenua representative Evelyn Cook proposed a conversation with Invercargill Central Ltd (ICL) about the issue, and asked about service parking being moved to Invercargill Central’s internal parks.
Ludlow replied that people would still park in Esk St, “because it’s quicker’’.
“Quicker be beggered,’’ Cook said.
“I get that. I’m just talking about behaviour,” Ludlow said.
Councillor Alex Crackett asked if service parking could be provided around the corner on Dee St outside the former entrance to Reading Cinemas, and councillor Lesley Soper queried whether the council should “do the whole job’’ and reconsider fully pedestrianising Esk St.
Ludlow replied that the council had made a commitment to retailers, “not in the mall’’ but on the other side of the street, who had traded amid the turmoil of the major construction work, guaranteeing them a period of parking provisions.
It would be tough to make a change after barely a year, he said.
Mayor Nobby Clark said that when shops were concentrated into a mall a lot of delivery capability was needed. “We can put more loading zones in, and that’s great, but it comes at the cost of other types of parking.’’
Councillor Peter Kett said although the parking was “a bit higgledy piggledy’’ at times, he didn’t see a problem with the shared-spaced approach.
“Those businesses should be able to to carry on and sell takeaway food.’’
Councillor Grant Dermody said part of being a modern city was to develop the needed functionality for such circumstances. That included “not cutting businesses off at the knees’’.“We’ve got to come up with a pragmatic solution,’’ he said. ”And we’re not going to come up with it today.’’