Mollymook may see paid parking at popular locations. Photo: Katrina Condie.
Shoalhaven Council is pushing ahead with plans to introduce paid parking targeting tourists.
The idea was raised by a Shoalhaven City Council (SCC) finance committee, which put it forward for consideration at a recent meeting.
In its report, it was proposed a scheme target motorists at popular tourist sites, such as Mollymook Beach, Huskisson, Hyams Beach and Boongaree Park in Berry.
In the public forum held last week, a resident of Hyams Beach said rangers were “inundated” during holidays and long weekends writing parking tickets.
He said the proposal could be a way of helping to manage parking and ease the burden on residents, with any profits from the scheme being put towards infrastructure upgrades.
“Tourism explodes in the summer and throughout Easter at Hyams Beach, and on long weekends. … You probably think that people come and go to the beach, but that’s not the case,” he said.
“They generally arrive at 7 am, and they depart about 7 pm.”
During discussion, Mayor Patricia White said her support for the proposal followed the extra demand tourists placed on services, such as extra rubbish collections needed over holiday periods.
“The tourists are costing us money, and we don’t get any further money from anybody else to pay for that,” she said.
“We don’t get a top-up from the State Government or the Federal [Government].”
Meeting documents state that in 2024/25, Blue Mountains Council brought in more than $3 million from tourists.
The papers also indicate that the use of apps or other technologies, rather than physical parking meters, could be on the cards.
But councillor Jemma Tribe raised a concern that internet connectivity could be an issue.
“We know that Berry, in particular, struggles during market days and busy times,” she said.
She also questioned whether Shoalhaven businesses could be negatively impacted by the plan.
“If there is this perception that it’s applied everywhere in the Shoalhaven, will people just keep on driving at a time where we really need visits and the cost of living is having an impact already in spend in our hospitality venues and petrol prices and all of those things?
“Would this add to that?”
Cr Tribe failed to gain a seconder for her proposal that SCC push ahead with paid parking solely for Hyams Beach.
Councillor Denise Kemp said that while paid parking would be for visitors to the Shoalhaven area, identifying them would be a major challenge.
“This is, to me, another extension of an invasion of privacy,” she said of the possible use of cameras to identify motorists.
She also said the council needed to consider the cost of installing the system, as well as the possibility that tourists would avoid the Shoalhaven in response.
“People will just keep going further south. … What this may do to tourism further is degrade it.”
Councillor Kemp said SCC needed to also consider, before moving ahead, the possibility of the paid parking being used by people wanting somewhere to sleep in their cars overnight.
The need for further work investigating any specific proposals for the paid parking scheme was echoed by councillor Debbie Killian.
“It is a good opportunity for revenue raising … You don’t need to have parking meters; there are lots of positive modern ways to do it,” she said.
While councillors were set to receive further information in July (before introducing the paid parking scheme in December), CEO Andrew Constance sought to have that timeline pushed back.
He said there was “no way” it could be delivered by the end of the year.
It means councillors will receive further information on what the scheme could look like in late 2026.
Ultimately, councillor Tribe was the only councillor to vote against the plan.
