Caravan, boat owners in council's crosshairs
A South Australian council has turned to the state government to help crack down on caravans and boats taking up street parking along residential roads.
Charles Sturt Council in Adelaide announced last week it would write to Infrastructure and Transport Minister Tom Koutsantonis to review state laws that would enable councils to tighten up parking restrictions on larger vehicles.
Current regulations read that vehicles longer than 7.5m or weighing more than 4.5 tonnes cannot be parked on roads in built-up areas for more than an hour, unless actively involved in pickup or delivery.
More than 100 expiations - a type of fine - have been handed out to residents in the local government area for breaking this rule in the past year alone.
Councils across SA are limited in their response due to current laws, with further investigations often finding no breach of parking regulations. Councils are limited in their response to large vehicles, such as caravans and boats, taking up street parking due to current laws. Reddit/ Facebook Credit: Supplied Charles Sturt Council in Adelaide announced it will crack down on caravans and boats taking up precious on-street parking. Reddit/ Facebook Credit: Supplied
Charles Sturt Council engaged community general manager Kristie Johnson told the Advertiser they would ask for councils to be empowered to enforce and manage long-term parking, including the storage of vehicles such as caravans and trailers on public roads.
The motion was put forward by councillor Peter Ppiros, who said he had received ongoing complaints about long‐term parking of vehicles, including trailers, boats, and caravans, on council‐managed streets within his ward.
The issue is far from unique to the Adelaide community, with Australians long having taken matters into their own hands in efforts to stake a claim to precious street parking.
One street in St Kilda in Melbourne's inner-west was labelled a 'caravan park' after trailers, boats, and caravans began to take over the streets.
The City of Port Phillip was unable to do much about it, as they were confined by time, length, and weight restrictions that did not allow the vehicles to be removed.
'A large proportion of vehicles impacting the local community are parked legally with no mechanism in place to address this issue,' now-Mayor Louise Crawford wrote at the time.
Charles Sturt Council and Mr Ppiros have been contacted for comment.
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