Retailers on Ridgway St in Whanganui want a loading zone to ‘solve problems for everyone’

Loading cardboard is costing business owner Craig Cawley. Photo / Bevan Conley

Gatshack music shop owner Craig Cawley says he’s sick of getting parking tickets and wants a loading zone in his part of central Whanganui.

He said he had been without one for the nearly 15 years he had been in business on the corner of Ridgway and St Hill streets.

“We’ve got Frank [Bar and Eatery] here now, and there’s The Bike Shed across the road. There’s a delicatessen, a bookshop and a hairdresser as well.

“[Whanganui District Council] came to us last year with maps of where they planned to put [loading zones], but nothing has happened.”

The Bike Shed owner Doug Rennie said he had couriers coming and going three or four times every day, and with buses travelling in either direction, it was “a very tight road”.

“I think this whole junction is a big issue. [The council] haven’t looked at it properly,” Rennie said.

“There’s a speed hump that’s hard to see, not marked, and people are flying over it.”

He said there was a parking space outside his shop that could easily be turned into a loading zone.

“That would solve problems for Craig, me, for everybody.

“On the left-hand side of the road, you’ve got Community House. They have a lot of disabled people going through there.

“All they need to do is change this one space, and it would suit taxis coming in with disability ramps on the back.”

A former parking spot outside the Gatshack on St Hill St is now painted with yellow lines to designate parking or stopping as being prohibited.

“I’m guessing that’s something to do with the new bus depot,” Cawley said.

Doug Rennie says the speed hump at the intersection of St Hill and Ridgway streets isn't marked and is hard to see. Photo / Bevan Conley

Whanganui’s new high-frequency bus service, Te Ngaru The Tide, travels along Ridgway St.

Cawley said he had received at least five tickets in the last year after parking at the front of the shop to load cardboard.

He already pays for a parking spot at the back of the shop.

In March, it was revealed Whanganui’s new parking meters produced a nearly 350 per cent increase in infringement revenue in their first year of operation.

For the period from March 1, 2022 to February 28, 2023, the council issued 6151 $40 tickets and 1285 $12 tickets.

In the same period between 2021 and 2022, there were 94 $40 tickets and 4547 $12 tickets, although Covid-19 may have impacted parking numbers during that time.

“I’ve made a bit of a stand on a couple of them and got them cancelled, but if you don’t pay them, they keep going up,” Cawley said.

“Someone from the council came down last year to show me how to download an app to pay for the park before I got there but, really, why should I pay for a loading zone?”

Rennie, who has operated on Ridgway St for 22 years, said motorists were hitting the St Hill St-Ridgway St intersection much too fast.

“We’ve watched people launch off the speed humps at a great rate of knots.

“Things fall off trailers and I’ve picked up people who’ve fallen off scooters. The whole thing needs a bit of a revamp.”

Whanganui District Council transport manager Damien Wood said he advised the retailers to have a chat with him.

“I’m more than happy to have a conversation with them about their concerns, opportunities and processes they need to follow for changes to be considered.

“There are all sorts of things going on in that area, with town centre regeneration and that kind of stuff.

“I realise some of those programmes have unintended consequences and things like loading zones can be a bit contentious.”

Sometimes, retailers complained when the council put in a loading zone because it took away parking, Wood said.

He said speed humps were there “to try to slow people down”.

“If there is some line marking we need to do, let’s have a chat about it and go from there.”

People can contest a parking ticket at www.whanganui.govt.nz/Services-Amenities/Parking/Contest-a-parking-fine.

Mike Tweed is an assistant news director and multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.