Whitsunday Regional Council reduces hourly rate for Airlie Beach paid car parks

The council was willing to cop the loss of revenue to encourage residents to visit their local shops more often. Find out what’s changing and when.

Visitors to Airlie Beach will soon be able to park at Airlie Creek for $2 instead of a minimum of $4. Picture: Google Maps

Quick trips into Airlie Beach will soon be a more appealing option as the council moves to halve the initial charge for using its off-street car parks.

Council-controlled car parks at Abell Point, Port of Airlie, Coconut Grove, Broadwater and Airlie Creek will soon charge $2 per hour for the first two hours, instead of the original flat rate of $4 for 0 to 2 hours.

The rest of the ‘pay by block’ fees will stay the same, but the new $2 option has been introduced to increase visitation to the CBD.

Cr Jan Clifford said shopkeepers would welcome the change as it would encourage more locals to stop for a quick coffee or other errands in town.

“Nobody minds putting two bucks in, but four? If you’re only going to be [there] 30 minutes, that’s a bit much,” Cr Clifford said.

“More people are likely to come in if they know they only have to put a couple of bucks in the meter.”

Cr John Collins said the council should consider more changes to look after locals, particularly elderly residents not wanting to pay for parking during doctors’ appointments.

“It would’ve been ideal if the car parks close to the doctors’ surgeries could be first hour free,” he said.

Whitsunday Regional Council’s Airlie Beach car parks.

The $2 option will come into effect as soon as the council’s contractors finished recalibrating the parking meters at a total cost of $830, and updating signage at an additional, undisclosed cost.

Community Services Director Julie Wright said this would happen over the coming weeks.

The Community Services Department had recommended against any changes to parking fees “to ensure there is no implication on the current budget due to a decrease in car parking revenue”, however councillors unanimously supported the introduction of the $2 rate at their August 25 meeting at Bowen.