Permits to ease parking squeeze

By Lia Bichel
PARKING permits will be available to residents occupying a Cranbourne North street in an effort to ease their daily parking problems.
Residents of Endeavour Drive expressed concerns last year that they were unable to park their vehicles on the street as most parks were taken by commuters who caught the train at the nearby Merinda Park Railway Station.
The dilemma was raised at a Casey Council meeting on 7 October, 2008. At that time the council resolved to issue parking permits to the residents but did not have a formal resident permit parking policy in place.
Councillor Amanda Stapledon said the council consulted with the community about the proposal to introduce a residents’ permit parking scheme.
“The proposal has been on public exhibition and there has been a letterbox drop to residents around the Merinda Park Station area,” she said.
The council adopted the Resident Parking Policy on 19 May.
Though the policy helps to address residents’ concerns, Cr Stapledon said the council was working to address the lack of parking near train stations in Casey.
“While the state government has announced additional car parking at some railway stations in recent times, there is still a high demand for car parking around many stations in the municipality,” Cr Stapledon said.
“The council has been lobbying for some years for the state government to address issues regarding a lack of car parking around railway stations and for improvements to local bus services linking to stations so that commuters don’t have to use their car at all.”