Sunbury’s Business Association has expressed “extreme concern” about Hume council’s “inability” to solve the town’s carparking issues.
Last week the association made a submission to the council’s draft 2017-18 budget, asking that it allocate funding to fix the parking problems in Sunbury’s town centre.
There were no funds allocated to investigate parking in the council’s draft budget, released on May 8.
In it’s submission the Sunbury Business Association (SBA) highlighted the impact a lack of parking had on residents, businesses and the community.
It claimed many shoppers travelled to retail centres outside of Sunbury to avoid the town’s congestion.
“Feedback from SBA members, the Sunbury business community, shoppers from Sunbury and surrounding regions, and the general public, is that impacts are widespread,” SBA president Michael Osborne wrote.
“Every day, more local and regional income is being spent outside of Sunbury.”
The association also raised concerns that the parking issues would only get worse as the population grew.
According to the Sunbury South Precinct Structure Plan, another 33,000 residents are expected to move into Sunbury.
Mr Osborne said “it [didn’t] make sense” to plan for population growth while infrastructure was limited.
At its June 13 meeting the council agreed to investigate what long-term and short-term parking was available in the Sunbury town centre as part of its 2017-18 Local Area Traffic Management Study.
The council will also write to Minister for Public Transport Jacinta Allan to discuss parking issues.
Hume’s 2017-18 budget was expected to be adopted on Monday, after Star Weekly went to print.
