Mornington Peninsula council votes for report to consider abandoning paid parking
A Mornington Peninsula council scheme that looked good on paper but ended up “driving away shoppers” is not likely to survive the summer.
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A contentious plan to roll out paid parking across some of Victoria’s most popular beaches is on its last legs.
Mornington Peninsula council has lost faith in the scheme following a trial at three bayside beaches earlier this year and on Tuesday night asked officers to report back on the implications of scrapping the idea altogether.
A report will be presented to councillors at the first meeting of 2025 on January 28 to consider abandoning the scheme indefinitely.
Councillor Bruce Ranken led the charge to ditch the initiative.
“The majority of us sitting here tonight were voted in because we said we’d kill it,” he said.
“We need to cancel it. It’s dead.”
He said during the trial beachgoers wanting to avoid paying to park filled shopping centre and church carparks, driving away shoppers and stopping congregations from meeting.
Public safety was also a concern.
“Most of these paid parking areas are located on the Port Phillip side of the peninsula,
this could then drive people to western port and down to the back beaches,” Mr Ranken said.
“Using these beaches that may not be patrolled, may have dire consequences in the way of more drownings.”
Some councillors expressed concern that the public had not been consulted on the results from the trial which tested paid parking at Flinders pier, Schnapper Point, Mornington and Sunnyside North, Mt Eliza.
The previous council voted to end the trial and leave any decision on rolling out permanent visitor paid parking at Port Phillip Bay beaches to the new council.
Other councillors worried it was too early to be dumping a proposal the previous council had invested time, money and resources trialling.
Mayor Anthony Marsh said he understood the apprehension of new councillors, but the council had been talking about paid parking for about three and a half years.
“We’ve had plenty of time to get this right,” he said.
Abandoning paid parking now did not mean a “better version” of the scheme could not considered later, he said.
The council voted 6-3 for a report to consider abolishing paid parking.
Those in favour included Mr Ranken, Mr Gill, Mr Marsh and councillors Cam Williams, Andrea Allen and Stephen Batty.
Councillors against the idea included Michael Stephens, Patrick Binyon and Kate Roper.
Councillors Max Patton and Paul Pingiaro declared a conflict of interest and did not take part in the debate or vote.
The council also voted in favour of revealing any compensation claims made against the shire in relation to a trial of the scheme.
A motion to drop a proposed levy on most new builds to generate funds to build social housing was also scheduled to be debated on Tuesday.
However, the council ran out of time and that motion will be considered when the meeting resumes on Wednesday night.
Councillor Paul Pingiaro was likely to garner enough votes to abandon a controversial plan to slap a 3.3 per cent levy on most new residential and some commercial builds on the Mornington Peninsula.
The idea was widely panned by the property industry and a hot topic at the recent council elections.
At least four councillors – Mr Pingiaro, Mr Marsh, Ms Allen, Mr Ranken and Mr Williams – told voters they did not support the levy.
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Councillors Stephen Batty, Max Patton and Michael Stephens did not take part in a Herald Sun election survey asking candidates for their views on paid parking or the housing levy
Previously, Mr Gill and Ms Roper have voted in favour of endorsing a draft strategy to introduce the tax – which developers say could add $35,000 to the cost of a new house and $22,000 to the cost of a new unit – to fund up to 1000 social housing dwellings in the region.
Patrick Binyon gave the housing levy the nod during his election campaign, but only if all three tiers of government funded the model.