New central city parking policy for Christchurch
Christchurch City Council Newsline: 17th August 2021
A new policy that aims to ensure the best use of central city street space has been adopted by Christchurch City Council.
The Christchurch Central City Parking Policy will provide a stronger direction to manage parking in a way that encourages safer and more people-friendly streets.
“Our central city has come a long way and it is time for a parking policy that supports our efforts to make the central city a vibrant, attractive place to live, work, shop and socialise," says Councillor Anne Galloway, who chaired the Hearings Panel that considered public submissions on the policy.
“Parking is an issue many people feel strongly about, however, I think the policy we have adopted positions us well to achieve our aspirations for the central city and our climate action goals. The policy provides a framework for better management of Council controlled parking and will help us to balance competing needs for limited street space," Cr Galloway says.
“It will enable us to make evidence-based parking decisions that support sustainable modes of transport, such as electric vehicles, scooters and bikes. This will help us to meet the climate action targets by reducing the number of single occupant fossil-fuelled motor vehicles on our roads."
The Policy provides for:
- Higher usage and turnover of parking spaces;
- Improving spaces to help people move around; and
- Better spaces for public transport, cycling and walking.
Cr Galloway says the Council also received a number of submissions about temporary surface off-street parking lots as part of the public consultation on the parking policy.
“Since the earthquakes there has been a large proportion of vacant land in the central city that has been used for temporary parking. We have asked Council staff to undertake a review of the role of these temporary parking lots so that we can get a better understanding of the impact they are having and whether we need to make any changes to the parking and consenting provisions in the District Plan," Cr Galloway says.