Let's Talk Parking
Thank you for your interest
The Manawatū District Council collected feedback on the time-limited parking proposal for the Feilding town centre until 8 September 2023. The consultation period has now closed.
Council will take some time to consider all of the feedback provided, and what the next steps should be. If Council decide to progress with the proposal, formal decision making and further consultation with the wider community will be undertaken during the Long Term Plan 2024-2034, which will be released for feedback in early 2024.
Please read below to see the information provided during the consultation period.
What's the Issue?
Our community and businesses are experiencing issues with parking in the Feilding town centre. Council is hearing that:
- Vehicles are staying for a long time in parks
- Business owners and employees are parking outside shops and offices for a long time
- Most want free parking to remain to encourage use of the town centre by the community and visitors, without the need for parking meters.
Council wants to ensure we have gained the views of Feilding Town Centre businesses and employees on a proposal for time-limited parking restrictions before we make any final decisions.
What's the Proposal?
- 3-hour time limited parking in primary shopping streets within Feilding town centre (map below)
- Enforcement via parking warden on weekdays between 9am and 3pm
- Installation of time monitoring sensors to assist with enforcement
- Cost of service to be funded:
- 25% of total cost across a new Feilding town centre targeted rate
- Remaining 75% across remainder of District ratepayers.
Cost to Ratepayers
There are costs for Council in putting time-limited parking restrictions in place. These costs include:
- Signage installation and maintenance
- Time monitoring sensor installation and maintenance
- Monitoring equipment, e.g. handheld computer system, thermal printer for tickets, software for required equipment
- Costs to employ a parking warden, including personal protective equipment for the warden
- Finance team and Front of House staff time to process fine payments.
The time limited parking proposal would need to be rates funded, as it is not feasible for the infringement fines to cover the cost of the service.
Council would like feedback from businesses on the following proposed cost split:
- 25% of costs spread directly to CBD properties - estimated $178 per year per property
- Remaining 75% of costs spread across all district ratepayers - estimated $10 per year per property.
This means CBD ratepayers would pay an estimated $188 per year for the service.
This split is proposed based on an assessment with community outcomes, the distribution of benefits, who contributes to the need for time-limits, amongst other factors.