Concern parking lacking at Scarborough Beach

SCARBOROUGH MLA Liza Harvey says the State Government’s decision to sell a Scarborough carpark would worsen parking woes.

The Reserve Street carpark is expected to be available to buy in June and will include a requirement existing parking is replicated.

Ms Harvey is concerned about parking being unavailable while the site is developed and wants the sale delayed until a solution to traffic and parking problems is found.

The City of Stirling issued 445 parking infringements along The Esplanade last month, down from 479 in December, resulting in more than $61,000 collected from fines over the two months.

Since July 1 it has issued 1648 fines and a further 176 in surrounding streets, including 115 on Hastings Street.

This has seen nearly $145,000 in infringement revenue go to the City since July 1, which is used to sustain parking expenditure and for community service purposes.

City infrastructure director Michael Littleton acknowledged Scarborough experienced “peak parking periods” but said there were 1200 parking bays available for short term and all day parking, as well as parking at Trigg Beach.

“One of the aims of the Scarborough Beach redevelopment is to achieve a pedestrian-friendly environment with emphasis on walking, cycling and public transport,” he said.

“The planning completed to date has reinforced this position and in conjunction with the State and Federal government we are endeavouring to deliver new infrastructure that will help make this even more achievable.”

Mr Littleton said the Scarborough Combined Agency Transport and Access working group was developing long-term traffic and access solutions.

Planning and Transport Minister Rita Saffioti said the land had been earmarked for redevelopment and sale for years as shown in the Scarborough master plan in 2015.

“It is a condition of sale that any future development on the Reserve Street site will be required to match the existing levels of parking, with incentives in place for additional public parking to be provided,” she said.

Ms Saffioti said the Scarborough Design Guidelines required a minimum of 60 per cent of non-residential parking bays be publicly available.