Diggers Rest businesses face car parking headache

Businesses in one northwest suburb are feeling the pinch from a lack of parking spaces around town. And they’re fed up.

Parking at Diggers Rest station and around Cradle Rd is frustrating residents and business owners. Picture: Mike Keating.

Diggers Rest business owners are feeling the pinch from a lack of parking in town.

Residents and business owners alike have hit out at insufficient parking around the Cradle Rd shopping precinct.

Diggers Rest hairdresser Hayley Duffy, who operates along Cradle Rd, told Sunbury Leader a lack of space hindered her ability to grow her business.

“It just gets really busy. My clients are around for hours at a time,” she said.

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“There’s always no parking. I can’t grow my business.”

Melton Council acting engineering services manager Matthew Hutchinson said shops at Cradle Rd had eight parking spaces, plus street parking, and the Glitter Rd shopping centre had 15 allocated parking spaces. “Council received a petition from the community to investigate additional carparking spaces for the Cradle Rd shopping precinct,” he said.

Business owners are also reporting an overflow at Diggers Rest train station.

“This is currently under investigation and findings will be reported back to an ordinary meeting of council.”

At the same time, traders and residents say the railway station carpark is overflowing on the other side of town. When similar issues were faced in neighbouring Sunbury, the State Government announced plans to provide 300 parking spaces to Sunbury railway station.

Diggers Rest takeaway owner Darren Abela said existing businesses already competed for a limited number of parking spaces.

“The carpark is full all the time and there’s no space for people to park their cars. They’re parking on the roads,” he said.

“That’s only with two or three shops and we have allocation for five.

“If that continues to grow as the area grows, the carpark situation is going to become a nightmare. That’s a major concern for us.”