More parking promised for Leppington station
State and federal Labor will jointly fund 300 new parking spaces at Leppington station if the ALP is elected during next year’s state and federal elections.
Macarthur
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State and federal Labor will jointly fund 300 new parking spaces at Leppington station if the ALP is elected during next year’s state and federal elections.
NSW Labor leader Michael Daley and federal infrastructure spokesman Anthony Albanese made the announcement at the station today surrounded by a bevy of Macarthur region Labor MPs and candidates.
State and federal Labor will evenly split the funding for the $16 million project.
Frustrated commuters have been calling for increased parking for several years.
Prestons resident Michael Andjelkovic gathered 6000 signatures on a petition calling for more parking at Leppington and Edmondson Park stations.
Mr Albanese said Labor’s $300 million National Park and Ride fund would pay for similar projects across the country.
“You can see when you arrive here that the car park is not just full but people are parked hundreds of metres away as a direct result of the lack of facilities,” Mr Albanese said.
Macarthur federal Labor MP Dr Michael Freelander said the parking situation at Leppington had become dangerous for commuters who had to park hundreds of metres down the road.
“The fact that commuters are made to park along the side of the road is also a concern for the local school. I often speak to mums and dads who are frightened an accident will happen, each time they drop off and pick up their kids from school,” Dr Freelander said.
Macquarie Fields state Labor MP Anoulack Chanthivong said the new parking would be part of a multistorey facility.
“Overdevelopment is a major issue impacting on people’s quality of life,” Mr Chanthivong said.
“Not being able to get a car park to go to work shows the failure of this Liberal Government to cater for the needs of a growing community.”
When asked if Labor would commit to upgrading Campbelltown station’s parking Mr Daley said NSW Labor would be making announcements on other station upgrades in the future.
NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance recently pulled the plug on a 2015 election promise to build an extra 450 spaces at the station.
“We’ve got a billion dollar fund to improve train stations across NSW and we’ll be making announcements in the near future,” Mr Daley said.