Berwick traders call for parking relief …

By Elizabeth Hart
AN EXODUS from Berwick village retail centre is likely unless Casey Council implements zones and permit areas, traders say.
Berwick Village Chamber of Commerce members fear parking congestion will repel people to neighbouring Beaconsfield where new developments are springing up with convenient parking.
They want the council to ramp up proposals for time limits and zones for staff parking away from the shops, to free up spaces for the public.
Chamber president Harry Hutchinson says parking is the single most important issue facing retail traders in the commercial sector.
The introduction of time zones requires Safeway supermarket on the north side and IGA supermarket on the south side to hand over control of their own private undercover car parks to the council for implementation and monitoring of the new time restrictions.
Both have agreed to do so, Mr Hutchinson says, but the arrangement is still tentative.
Chamber members at their meeting last week said they would press the two Edrington Ward councillors, Daniel Mulino and Simon Curtis, who have been in office for six months, to work to solve the parking shortage. The chamber had invited them to its monthly meeting last week.
A chamber committee will meet on Saturday to identify particular time zones.
“The next step is to organise a meeting with officers to agree on the type of restrictions,” Mr Hutchinson said.
Parking meters and policed short-term parking would boost trade, the chamber newsletter states, rather than send shoppers out of the village.
Four-hour zones and all-day permit spots would also prevent employees and rail commuters using the commercial centre, chamber members say.
Revenue from the parking limits would enable the council to employ a parking officer.
Berwick is a thriving commercial centre, and despite the recession, business people at the chamber of commerce meeting last week said retail activity was buoyant.
But with car park saturation, traders are concerned for the future, Mr Hutchinson said.
Full-time monitoring of time limits would nearly solve the problem, one shopper said.
“Officers would need to be there every day. And it needs to happen as soon as possible.”
Mooted for the longer term, Mr Hutchinson said, are multi-level car parks on the north and south sides of the village, each containing four levels, two underground, one roof-top, and another at ground level for offices and shops.
Rooftop spaces would be free, and underground spaces would require permits or tickets, he said.
However, the idea of multi-level car parks is controversial, and there are no indications yet of any progress.
Chamber members want parking revenues from the new limits to be spent in the village rather than to flow into the council’s general coffers.
The Gazette attempted unsuccessfully to contact Crs Mulino and Curtis on Friday for comment about the car parking shortage.