Tumultuous parking in Tuggeranong has frustrated residents for the past decade, and in light of the ACT Government’s proposal this week to reduce car space requirements in new developments, locals are speaking out.

Comments from Tuggeranong residents suggest finding a park on Anketell Street in the town centre is like finding a needle in a haystack. Many locals resort to parking in the nearby Bunnings due to the lack of car spaces.

President of the Tuggeranong Community Council, Glenys Patulny, said parking on Anketell Street has been an ongoing issue for many years and the ACT Government has failed to listen to their concerns.

“We, at the Tuggeranong Community Council, have heard these complaints since these buildings went up and there are still more high rise being built in the area,” Ms Patulny said.

“Incidentally, the latest is being built partly on a small carpark.”

Considering the surrounding buildings contain “little visitor parking” and “very, very little street parking,” Ms Patulny said residents have three unappealing options.

“If you want to visit people in the buildings, the nearest parking is at Bunnings or, for the original multi-storey buildings, at one end only, Tuggeranong Square (which is also hard to park in),” she said.

“If you want to go to the local cafés in the area, there is little chance of street parking and, again, people use the Bunnings carpark, which is the closest.

“A number of apartments only have one parking space but have two cars, so local residents also park on the streets, again allowing little parking for visitors.”

The Bunnings store in Tuggeranong has struggled to control non-customers using their parking spaces.

Bunnings Area Manager David Williams told Canberra Daily: “While we’re aware there’s limited parking in the streets around our Tuggeranong store, we kindly remind the community that our carpark is reserved for Bunnings customers and team members only.”

The Bunnings store in Tuggeranong has a two-hour parking limit, and carpark requirements are managed alongside monitoring systems.

With fewer parking spaces expected in the draft Territory Plan from the ACT Government, concerns are growing in suburbs with fewer public transport options, such as Tuggeranong.  

Canberra Daily has contacted the ACT Government and Canberra Liberals for comment.

Liberals and ACT Government clash over Kippax parking

Parking around Kippax in the Belconnen suburb of Holt is also topical.

The Canberra Liberals raised the issue with Minister for Transport and City Services Chris Steel during Question Time in the ACT Legislative Assembly yesterday, 9 February.

Canberra Liberals MLA Elizabeth Kikkert asked Mr Steel about the selling of public parking at Kippax Fair and said the government had failed to meet requirements to replace public parking stated in the Kippax Masterplan.

Mr Steel said the government is not responsible to provide public liability insurance for non-government entities and they have relocated 16 Park and Ride spaces to allow additional long-stay parking.

In response to Ms Kikkert’s question regarding any definite plans to reconfigure or add any additional car parks in Kippax, Mr Steel said “we [ACT Government] will look at future opportunities around parking”.

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