Manningham Council spends more than $200K on Jackson Court shopping centre parking sensors
A council in Melbourne’s east has spent ratepayers’ money on smart technology at a shopping centre carpark to find help visitors find free spaces through a phone app. But a trader and a ratepayers’ group are divided over the cost.
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A council in Melbourne’s east has spent more than $200,000 on smart technology at a suburban shopping centre carpark so visitors can find a free parking spot.
And a longtime trader believes the investment is worthwhile as it could curb visitors from hogging spaces and flaunting time limits.
Is this good use of ratepayer money? Tell us in the comments section below
Manningham Council installed sensors at Jackson Court shopping centre and its surrounds between November and March as part of its $500,000 Smart Cities, Reinventing Neighbourhoods project.
It received a $250,000 Federal Government grant for the project, which it matched.
The council’s director of city planning and community, Angelo Kourambas, said a total of $438,000 had been spent so far.
The spend included $184,100 on the parking sensors and $36,160 annually for three years for support and maintenance by contractor DCA Australia.
The remaining money has been spent on pedestrian and environmental sensors, signage, relay poles, community engagement, research and project management costs.
The carparking initiative is the first to emerge from the project and uses the PayStay mobile phone app to view real time availability of free car parks in the precinct.
Ratepayers Victoria vice president Frank Sullivan labelled the spend on the parking initiative as “irresponsible”.
“On the surface, it sounds definitely too much,” Mr Sullivan said.
“It comes back to what is the benefit to the ratepayer, that’s the whole crux of it.”
“The concern of ratepayers is the spending of our money, and this does not sound responsible.”
But Brendon’s Quality Meats owner Brendan Watts welcomed the move, saying it would improve traffic flow in the precinct.
Mr Watts said the centre had ongoing problems with visitors parking all day in short-term spots with time limits.
“It’s a fair and just initiative,” he said.
“If you’re parking there all day and couldn’t be damned, you deserve to be fined.”
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Mayor Paul McLeish said the sensors collected non-identifiable data which the council would use to make improvements to the centre.
“We installed these sensors to understand how visitors move through the centre, their
modes of transport, how long they stay and what activities are undertaken,” he said.
“The data will assist us to better plan for the right mix of physical space such as parking,
pavements and other infrastructure so we can make it even more attractive for residents and
visitors to the area.”