Labor criticises State Government’s plans to investigate commuter parking

Liverpool state Labor MP Paul Lynch has criticised the State Government’s plans to investigate options for increased commuter carparking at Edmondson Park railway station.

There is a shortage of commuter parking at Edmondson Park railway station.

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Liverpool state Labor MP Paul Lynch has criticised the State Government’s plans to investigate options for increased commuter carparking at Edmondson Park railway station.

“The only money the state Liberal-National Government proposes to allocate for 2018-19 is $150,000 for ‘investigation’. They’re not even doing planning and haven’t even committed to it,” Mr Lynch said.

“No possible construction can start until the second half of 2019 — and that’s not even certain,” he said.

Labor has committed $18 million for a multistorey carpark at Edmondson Park railway station, where a lack of parking has long been a source of frustration for commuters.

Michael Andjelkovic started a petition calling for more parking at Edmondson Park and Leppington train stations. Picture: Melanie Russell

In March Prestons resident Michael Andjelkovic started a petition calling for more parking at Edmondson Park and Leppington stations.

It has now amassed more than 5000 signatures and pressure is growing from the community for measures to ease their daily parking woes.

Mr Lynch said the government had made “an obvious mistake” in not building a multi-storey carpark when the station was constructed.

Holsworthy state Liberal MP Melanie Gibbons said an increase in the number of train services at Edmondson Park had contributed to its popularity.

“We need to address the extra demand, which is why we are actually investing $550,000 in planning for additional parking across both Edmondson Park and Casula stations,” Ms Gibbons said. She stressed the importance of planning, confirming the process was already underway for Edmondson Park.

Werriwa MP Anne Stanley, Macquarie Fields MP Anoulack Chanthivong, ALP leader Luke Foley, Liverpool residents Wayne Prior and Surinder Singh, and Labor candidate for Holsworthy Charishma Kaliyanda. Labor announced commitment to $18m multi-storey car park at Edmondson Park train station.

“It will look into whether to go up, out, if we need to purchase land, and the like,” Ms Gibbons said. “This planning money is our commitment — and a commitment to do it responsibly.”

Ms Gibbons said Labor’s $18 million funding announcement was “irresponsible” without investigations to guide the planning.

“Figures similar to the one they have suggested have only added an additional 100 spaces at Oatley and 40 spaces at Granville. Nowhere near the 200 they claim they will build,” she said.