Safe parking in school zones tops the list of priorities for Queanbeyan council rangers, according to a draft policy. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
A year after adopting a parking priorities policy, a southern NSW council is changing gears to adopt a new one.
Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council (QPRC) is seeking feedback on its policy to guide its rangers on parking enforcement.
A council spokesperson told Region the revised policy came after an increase in parking complaints.
“Council is seeing increasing issues related to parking, particularly around long and heavy vehicles,” they said.
“The number of complaints received about poor parking practices is also increasing, indicating that the community view this as an important safety and compliance issue.”
The new draft introduces a provision around larger vehicles – those longer than 7.5 metres and those with a gross vehicle mass of more than 4.5 tonnes.
They’re banned from street parking in built-up areas for more than one hour.
The council spokesperson said this was intended to deal with an “amenity or inconvenience issue”, rather than safety concerns.
“It should be noted that the primary responsibility for parking safely and lawfully is on the operator of the vehicle.”
“Council’s rangers cannot be everywhere all the time so there will likely still be amenity issues relating to the parking of heavy vehicles.”
Information around residential parking permits and business parking has also been removed from the revised document.
If there’s no on-site parking in Queanbeyan’s industrial areas, employees can park on the verge of the relevant business.
“This exemption applies only during normal business hours. All vehicles parked on the verge must be registered and in a safe condition.”
However, motorists can’t park on the verges of Yass and Gilmore roads – even when there isn’t enough on-site parking nearby.
When voting on whether to put the policy out for consultation, councillor Katrina Willis said she hoped this change would go “partway” to stopping heavy vehicles from parking in residential areas.
She said “large parts of Queanbeyan” would likely still face issues with cars parking near bins overnight, raising problems for waste collections.
“There is a comment in the policy about trying to avoid parking in front of waste bins,” she said.
“It might be polite [to avoid doing that], but it’s mostly impossible, certainly around the part of Queanbeyan where I live, and I know the problem with the number of cars parked on the streets overnight is an issue also in other R4 higher density parts of Queanbeyan.”
In November 2025, the NSW Government announced a plan to shift away from ticketless fines.
A staff member told the meeting the revised policy was designed to “clarify the circumstances” where an infringement notice wouldn’t be left by council rangers.
“Almost all of the parking infringements that we’re issuing now are [situations where there is] notifications left,” she said.
According to the draft document, a ranger won’t leave a notification where it isn’t safe for them to do so, a vehicle is moved before they can leave one or a vehicle is in a prescribed parking zone.
The draft policy also notes that council rangers “regularly” use cameras, such as body-worn cameras and dash cams.
“This evidence is stored in accordance with QPRC’s digital requirements and is not available for access by the general public,” the document states.
When asked about this part of the policy by Region, the council spokesperson said the data was treated under the requirements of the Records Management Act.
“Footage is only retained if it contains supporting evidence for an offence. Footage not associated with an offence is deleted at the end of shift,” they outlined.
“Photographs, videos, and other supporting evidence are also provided to Revenue NSW who issue the penalty infringement notice on behalf of council.”
The draft Priority Parking Enforcement Policy is available on the YourVoice QPRC platform. It is open for consultation until 8 October.
