Caravan and boat owners targeted by Aussie council in fresh crackdown
Authorities across the country continue to grapple with the tension caused by caravans and boats taking up precious on-street parking along residential roads. One council is even asking for state laws to change to crack down on the issue.
Charles Sturt Council in Adelaide announced last week it intends to reach out to South Australia's Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Tom Koutsantonis to review state laws that would enable councils to introduce stricter parking restrictions on larger vehicles.
At the moment, councils across the state are limited in their response due to current laws.
"Council has proposed to write to the Transport Minister to seek a review of the relevant legislation to empower councils to enforce and manage long-term parking and the storage of vehicles such as caravans and trailers on public roads where no other parking restrictions apply," the council's General Manager Engaged Community Kristie Johnson told Yahoo News.
There are a few exceptions but under current Australian Road Rules, vehicles heavier than 4.5 tonnes or longer than 7.5 metres can't be parked in built-up areas for more than one hour. However, Kristie told The Advertiser the council has issued 111 expiations, a type of fine, in the last year due to residents in the local government area (LGA) breaking this rule. The council hope to reduce these breaches by introducing tougher restrictions and freeing up parking options.
There has been an uptick in the number of caravans on Aussie roads and this is only compounding the issue, according to Charles Mountain, Manager of Safety and Infrastructure at the RAA.
"It's probably becoming a bigger problem for a combination of reasons. More and more people own caravans and boats than ever before... we've got a situation now where modern homes often only have six or eight metres between property boundary and the garage means there is limited space," Charles told ABC Adelaide.
"People are defaulting to parking their recreational vehicle on the street and of course that causes a lot of problems as the vehicles by very nature are large... the challenge for councils is to manage that because it obviously creates a lot of friction and tension with the resident who feels miffed if they can't park their vehicle in front of the property they paid rates for," he said.
On-street parking of boats, trailers and caravans has long been a contentious issue for residents as many find it difficult enough to claim a park for their car in built-up areas, never mind have ample space to accomodate larger vehicles too. The tension has become so heightened in the past that residents living in Sydney's Northern City Council even resorted to vandalism by spray painting 'f**k it off' on a boat to deter the owner from parking in their street.
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Councils have approached the issue in different ways, with Randwick City Council taking a firm stance by completely blocking parking along a five-kilometre nature strip after it grew popular with large vehicle parking. In comparison, North Sydney council previously told Yahoo News it was aware of the "ongoing issue" of boats being parked in streets but simply explained the vehicles were "legally permitted" to be there.
Yahoo News understands there are no specifics on the restrictions Charles Strut Council will propose at this stage.
Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.
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