Westfield Tea Tree Plaza will reduce parking if government drops legislative hit

Westfield Tea Tree Plaza claims it will reduce parking rates at the popular suburban shopping centre – only if the government dumps laws that would prevent the introduction of paid parking.

Westfield Tea Tree Plaza will reduce carparking costs, but only if the state government backs down on legislation to prevent paid parking.

On Thursday, SA regional manager of centre experience Lachlan Monfries said the shopping centre will consider replicating the reduced parking rate at Westfield West Lakes at the Tea Tree Plaza location.

“We have decided to reduce the parking rate for our business partners’ staff to $2.50 per day at Westfield West Lakes from next Monday,” he said.

“Our plan is to take the same approach for our business partners’ staff at Westfield Tea Tree Plaza – where there are approximately 900 car spaces reserved for those workers – should we be able to introduce managed parking there.”

Westfield Tea Tree Plaza will consider reducing carparking costs. Photographer: Brendon Thorne/Bloomberg

The claims come as the shopping centre started to lock a section of its carpark overnight in response to the government legislation.

The changes will prevent workers from the nearby Modbury Hospital from using the carpark at particular times of day.

In an update to customers on Monday, the retail giant said “providing an easy and accessible parking experience when you visit us is our priority”.

“It’s widely understood that, on any given day, you’re competing with commuters and workers at nearby facilities that charge for, or do not provide sufficient, parking,” the notice said.

“In response, from Tuesday October 18, our carpark adjacent to Modbury Hospital will open at 8.45am.”

A security officer was seen on-site on Tuesday morning.

Security was on-site on Tuesday morning after Westfield Tea Tree Plaza announced its car park would be closed at night. Picture: Supplied

Westfield said its proposal to introduce “managed parking” at Westfield Tea Tree Plaza was “designed to prioritise your parking needs”.

“We are planning to include three hours of free parking as part of the change,” it said.

“If we’re unable to introduce managed parking, we may consider further adjustments to the parking arrangements at Westfield Tea Tree Plaza to ensure your parking needs, as customers, are prioritised.”

In a statement, Mr Monfries said the changes only affect the carpark adjacent to the hospital.

“Our other car parks are operating as usual,” he said.

Opposition government accountability spokeswoman Michelle Lensink said “Peter Malinauskas has bitten off more than he can chew by picking fights with businesses in South Australia”.

“The Premier’s cowboy behaviour sends a terrible message to people wanting to invest in South Australia — Peter Malinauskas wants to control your business and how you run it,” she said.

But Mr Malinauskas said Westfield’s decision to close the carpark was “a demonstration of the fact that Westfield has options to be able to manage their carparking systems without installing boom gates”.

He said locals do not want the boom gates, and the plan to install them was “a very simple cash-grab … at the expense of the local businesses in the shopping centre, at the expense of the local residents in the community”.

“I don’t know to what extent Westfield is actually contemplating the implications for the small businesses in their shopping centre,” he said.

Mr Malinauskas accused the Liberals of “running around doing Westfield’s bidding”.

Tea Tree Gully Deputy Mayor Lucas Jones said restrictions on parking “will only lead to nearby streets being flooded with cars”, which he said would lead to residents asking council to police the situation.

The government announced in June that it would move to ban paid parking at TTP by introducing laws to restrict large shopping centres from charging customers and staff for parking.

But the move sparked a backlash over the Government’s refusal to scrap paid parking at hospitals.

In September, Mr Malinauskas was accused of “misrepresenting facts” about there not being enough subsidised carparks for retail workers at Tea Tree Plaza Shopping Centre, after initially being accused of “spreading misinformation” about the cost to Westfield Tea Tree Plaza staff.