Council report recommends paid parking on all Port Phillip Bay foreshore carparks on Mornington Peninsula

A trip down the Mornington Peninsula could soon cost a lot more as the council considers charging visitors $6.20 an hour to park along the foreshore from Mt Eliza to Portsea.

Schnapper Point is one of the places that has trialled the paid parking. Picture: Supplied.

A simple day at the beach would cost about $20 more if a Mornington Peninsula council plan to rake in almost $40m over the next decade through paid parking goes ahead.

The local council is considering charging visitors up to $6.20 an hour or $19.50 a day to park at each beach along the foreshore from Mt Eliza to Portsea.

Residents would be given free permits.

Mornington Peninsula Shire will next week vote on expanding its current visitor paid parking trial and making it permanent.

If the scheme gets the green light, ratepayers will not know key details — including the parking price, time of year and hours of operation — until after the council elections in October.

At least one Mornington trader has slammed the proposed expansion, calling it a “money grab”.

Paul Pingiaro says his Schnapper Point business Mornington Boat Hire has been smashed by a paid parking trial. Picture: supplied.

Mornington Boat Hire owner Paul Pingiaro said he had lost up to 48 per cent of trade since the pilot began and expanding paid parking would devastate tourism in the region.

“If Phillip Island is free and the Great Ocean Road is free, why would people come to the peninsula and pay $20 just to park,” Mr Pingiaro said.

He urged councillors to ask for a full economic and social impact study before they voted.

“Residents and small businesses are not the cash cow for governments; they are the foundation of our community and economy and need to be protected.”

Mr Pingiaro’s experiences with the council over the paid parking trial have galvanised him to run for council at the elections in October.

The pair parking trial, which began in December 2023, saw visitors charged $6.20 an hour or $19.50 a day to park at Schnapper Point, Mornington, Flinders pier and Sunnyside North beach at Mt Eliza.

The ticketless system used number plate recognition technology to identify and monitor vehicles using the car parks.

The pilot was not well received by locals or visitors who complained e-permit applications were difficult to navigate and only the tech savvy could pay to park.

More than 3000 people signed a petition against the pilot which was tabled in parliament by Mornington MP Chris Crewther in June.

Mr Crewther on Wednesday said he would be “totally against” expanding the scheme to all bay beaches.

A report to be tabled at Tuesday’s meeting revealed if the council expanded the pilot around the bay, it would have to spend $18m and wait three years before the scheme started to make a profit.

After five years the scheme would generate a “consistent yearly profit of $5.4m”, the report states, and a decade-long cumulative profit “in the order of $38.7m”.

The cost of rolling out and maintaining paid parking included salaries for about 30 staff.

The trial was initiated in a bid to generate revenue outside of council rates and cover the cost of servicing up to eight million visitors a year.

The estimated revenue from the trial sites over 12 months was $1.2m in fines and $805,000 in parking fees.

The total estimated cost of the pilot for the same period, including one-off expenses, was $1.4m.