Free CBD parking rejected

The suggestion that Bunbury City Council introduce one-hour free parking in the CBD and abolish any notion of paid parking on Thursday nights gained no support from councillors this week.

The suggestion was put forward by Cr Wayne Major who said he was disappointed by his fellow councillors and that ‘‘the council had missed a great opportunity’’.

Cr Major said one-hour free parking had worked well in the past and would give the city the opportunity to advertise free parking in the city.

The matter was put to the council by Bunbury Mayor David Smith at the full council meeting but was passed over without debate.

Cr Karen Steele later expressed regret she was reading notes when the Mayor asked if anyone would support the suggestion and missed the opportunity to speak up.

‘‘I would have liked to see it debated, I didn’t agree entirely with Cr Major but I agree something needs to be done,’’ Cr Steele said.

Cr Steele said she was a ‘‘shopaholic’’ and would like the cost of two hours of parking to be the same price as one hour to allow people to browse in the stores longer.

TheCBDparking meters have been the source of criticism of the council with some city retailers claiming they had lost substantial trade since the meters were introduced last year.

Paul Crowley of Henry’s Cafe Brasserie said the plight of small business owners was falling on deaf ears.

‘‘Wake up councillors, this is Bunbury — a regional city — and with your foresight and the fact you are not listening to small business and general public we will see more vacant buildings and less and less traffic while these things are forced upon us,’’ Mr Crowley said.

‘‘To add insult to injury we were informed the council staff do not have to pay for parking.’’

The Bunbury Chamber of Commerce and Industry will now give businesses, employees and the public a chance to have their say on the meters in a survey due to be distributed in the coming weeks.

No changes are expected to be made to the meters until the result of the surveys are presented to the council later in the year.

Cr Major and Cr Steele both said they hope their ideas will be revisited when the surveys are returned to the council.