Residents living near airport cannot park in their streets

Residents living a stone’s throw from Sydney Airport are “pulling their hair out” over their inability to find a parking spot in their own streets — despite paying for permits.

Residents in Hardie St, Mascot, protest the lack of parking in the street and nearby streets due to eight-hour parking zones. Picture: Flavio Brancaleone

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Residents living a stone’s throw from Sydney Airport are “pulling their hair out” over their inability to find a parking spot in their own streets — despite paying for permits.

Today they held up signs as they met Bayside Council’s parking officer in Mascot, calling for “excessive” eight-hour free parking zones to be slashed to one-hour.

Deborah Houghton, who lives in Hardie St, said people left their cars parked in her street all day while they went on one-day return flights, caught a bus to work in the city or went to work on Botany Rd or the nearby shopping centre.

Residents in Hardie St, Mascot, make their feelings known. Picture: Flavio Brancaleone

Hardie, Johnson, Alfred, Frogmore and King streets all eight-hour parking limits on one side, while the other side of the road allows drivers to park for three hours. Residents are demanding all areas of these streets have one-hour parking limits.

“Residents are just pulling their hair out,” Ms Houghton said.

“You go and look at the street at 9am and there’s not one spot free. We have paid for parking permits but we still can’t get a park.

Residents want the three-hour parking zones changed to one-hour zones. Picture: Flavio Brancaleone

Residents protest to get three-hour parking reduced to one-hour zones. Picture: Flavio Brancaleone

“It’s the residents who are the ones getting booked.”

Bayside Council charges $27 a year for a residential parking permit for one vehicle. It costs $67 for each additional car.

Available parking spaces for residents diminished even further after Bayside Council recently banned parking in the laneways separating each street — areas which were residents’ trusty fallbacks.

Residents in Hardie St discuss their frustrations over the lack of available parking with one of Bayside Council’s parking officers. Picture: Flavio Brancaleone

Ms Houghton said some people were “petrified” when going for a drive in fear of having nowhere to park when returning home.

The eight-hour zones were introduced by the former Botany Bay council after residents complained of holiday-makers parking in their street for “weeks” having flown out from the airport. The zones had been open to unrestricted, all-day parking.

Hardie St is only a few hundred metres from the airport, where parking can set flyers back at least $15 per day.

“We never wanted it. They should have just put up a sign there saying, ‘Come park here all day for free’,” Ms Houghton said.

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“We are demanding a fair residential parking scheme for people living in the street.”

She said residents want the zones reduced to one hour and for the council to offer one free parking permit per household.

A Bayside Council spokeswoman said it would listen to the concerns of residents before determining what action would be taken.

Residents protesting. Picture: Flavio Brancaleone

“Parking conditions in Hardie St have been in place for several years and any changes will have to be made in consultation with all residents in area G which includes Johnson St, Alfred St, Frogmore St and the section of King S between Botany Rd and Sutherland St.”