Parking limit aims to cut congestion

TIED-UP: Parking in Perry St to Millers Place is to be limited to 120 minutes to improve parking space turnover. PHOTO/LYNDA FERINGA

A two-hour parking limit will be placed on the southern side of Perry St in Masterton between the Senior Citizens Hall and Miller Place, which will allow a better turnover of parking in the area.

The two-hour limit for 14 street carparks along one side of Perry St is aimed at providing some relief to customers, who have in the past struggled to find close parking.

This council decision was the result of a submission to Masterton's Long Term Plan by the manager of Wairarapa Community Centre, Beverley Jack.

Ms Jack, who has managed the centre since 2013, said she is concerned about customer and staff parking for businesses in the street.

"Over the past five years there has been a large influx of businesses, which is good for the economy but bad for congestion," she said.

"The increase of businesses in Perry St has resulted in an increase of staff who are needing long-term parking and also an increase in customers to the businesses, and those customers are struggling to find close parking."

There are 33 businesses that operate out of Perry St, including the Dental Clinic, Asthma Society, and CCS Disability Action.

Ms Jack surveyed the businesses and, of the 25 that responded, there were a total of 197 staff and only 90 allocated carparks between them.

She admits that, though it is hard for staff to find close long-term parking, the need of customers outweighed the need of staff.

"We're all physically able to walk a bit further," she said.

"My concern is that there are lots of children, elderly and people with medical conditions that are all trying to access the Perry St businesses, and most of them are having to park in Coradine St or on the other end of Perry St.

"People come into our centre breathless from having to walk so far.

"I asked the council not to have a parking meter in the area but that we should have a warden to make sure that the limit is followed.

"Because people don't want to be spending money on parking and we need to keep people coming to the businesses here.

"This is about our economic growth as businesses.

"Masterton is growing and we need to support that."

Latest figures recorded by the council on May 19 showed that on both sides of Perry St, from Cole St to Coradine St, 30 of the 47 available street parks were occupied for more than four hours that day. Twelve of those parked all day.

The council is yet to announce when the parking restrictions will take effect.