Council rangers are being notified instantly of drivers overstaying the one hour parking limit on Leura’s busiest street thanks to an electronic monitoring system installed prior to the school holidays.
Sensors placed under the 47 parking spaces along The Mall between Railway Parade and Megalong Street record when cars enter and leave — if a space has expired, that information is sent electronically to rangers patrolling in nearby Katoomba.
Motorists are made aware of the new system through a series of signs installed at each end and at the centre of The Mall.
Reactions to the installation of the sensors have been mixed, with most shopkeepers the Gazette spoke to on April 11 happy with the extra deterrent against parking non-compliance, but also pointing to the odd example of customer discontent.
Leura resident Michael MacLaurin said while it did not affect him as he usually walked to the shops, he believed the new system was unfair to visitors who were not familiar with the area.
“With local businesses calling for more visitors to visit the area I would believe that people being unaware (of the new system) would impact on the number of visitors,” Mr MacLaurin said.
Leura Village Association (LVA) president Andrew Tsaroumis said members supported electronic monitoring of parking at The Mall and described the system’s introduction as positive, but said there had been teething problems during the Easter break.
“The idea is to maintain turnover of parking spaces and we are working with council to have a healthier streamlining of cars,” he said.
“Everyone likes to park on the main street and personally I think an hour is not enough to park and enjoy a visit to Leura but there are longer limit parking areas nearby.”
Mr Tsaroumis wrote to the manager of the new system last week giving feedback from local residents and tourists, including hearing comments like “an electronic bigger hand to take revenue” and “welcome to the policed state” to “don’t they want people coming to Leura anymore — so much for escaping the city”.
His letter referred to one local tourist arriving on a coach whose driver had to roam around for 15 minutes before finding a parking space.
With only one designated tourist coach parking space and one standard bus parking space in town, Mr Tsaroumis believed a lack of tourist coach parking spaces was “the most important issue that’s facing Leura” and told the Gazette he would put it at the top of the agenda at the LVA’s next monthly meeting.
A council spokesperson said the new electronic monitoring system in Leura was a three-month trial and after it finished an evaluation report would be considered to determine whether the system would continue or even be extended to other locations, but she did not reveal how much the new system cost when asked.
“The LVA representatives and members have for some time identified a need to improve parking turnover in the time-limited spaces in the village centre,” the spokesperson said.
“Whilst the increase in ranger patrols in response to those concerns had some limited success, electronic monitoring presents a more efficient and effective way of improving compliance with the parking restrictions.”
She said the system was operated “so as to provide some modest leeway” on the extent of any overstay before either a formal warning or a penalty notice was issued.
