Unrestricted carparks to continue for now

A move to place time restriction on parks outside Queen Elizabeth Park was lost by Masterton District councillors.

Council recently undertook a survey to evaluate how the Dixon St parks outside Kids Own Playground and Mini Putt have been used.

Of the 17 carparks in front of the Mini Putt (or the southern section), five had cars parked in them all day and four had cars parked for half a day.

There was an average of one or two carparks available at each half hour count.

Of the 18 carparks in from of the playground, most vehicles were parked for about half an hour.

There are also 10-minute and mobility carparks which were not surveyed as part of the report.

Assets and operations manager David Hopman said at a council meeting recently they were happy with how the car parks were being used overall.

Councillor Pip Hannon said council should impose a two-hour parking limit at the southern section of the carparks.

This would discourage people who work in the area to use the carparks for all-day parking.

They are designed for visitors.

"It's just a congested area and it always seems there's a lot [fewer places to] park than the survey indicates," Ms Hannon said.

Councillor Lyn Patterson agreed. "Those parks should be there for those people using the park and using the toilet," she said.

"Given it's right outside our main park ... I would like to see some restriction, even if it's just on the south side."

She said The Horseshoe carpark, which was a public carpark, was just up the road and workers should use that.

Councillor Judith Callaghan disagreed and said the time restriction was not long enough for visiting families.

"We've built that area and that's really nice for children, families and everything else.

"A couple of hours is not very long," Ms Callaghan said.

Mr Hopman said a time restriction on the car parks could have other effects and move any congestion elsewhere.

The motion to place time restrictions on the car parks was lost but it was agreed a similar survey would be undertaken in about a year's time.