Councils discriminate against boating

The NSW State Government has recently announced that over 800 commuter parking spaces could be found between Mona Vale and Manly Value as part of the bus upgrade program for the peninsula.

This follows claims that it was going to be very difficult for local councils to find suitable spare land to accommodate boat trailers that will be forced off the streets when the changes to trailer parking regulations come into force.

If 800 spaces can be found near bus routes for commuters, then surely a few hundred spaces can be found near boat ramps for boaters. And with the incentive of boating funds available to do the upgrade work required to make vacant areas suitable for trailer parking, what else is needed to get councils to act?

Probably the same sort of rocket that is needed to force councils to issue trailer parking permits to local residents. When the trailer parking problem was first brought up, the claim was made that most trailers parked in the streets were owned by people from other municipalities.

This turned out to be not true, but Councils stuck to the claim that local streets should be available for local ratepayers. As part of the deal to change the impounding rules for trailers, councils were permitted to issue parking permits for boat trailers.

But very few councils have implemented schemes, reverting to the claim that parking is insufficient and that additional permits cannot be issued.

This failure to act seems to confirm that boat trailers are being singled out for special attention because they are easy targets to blame for councils failure to provide sufficient parking for residents. And that in turn comes back to poor planning decisions in the past – particularly the restriction on the number of allowed parking spaces in medium-and high-density residential developments, and restrictions on development of extra parking spaces within existing properties.

Councils need to realise that people who purchase properties near boating facilities are likely to want to buy a boat on a trailer, and they will need to park it somewhere. They are prevented by planning regulations from including additional parking on their own property, they can’t get a parking permit to park on the street, and councils won’t invest in off-street public parking for trailers!

Councils have created a lose-lose outcome for boaters who want to do their boating in a small boat that they can keep on a trailer, and councils have an obligation to respond to the initiatives provided to them to fix it.