Leura residents frustrated by tourist bus parking plans

The present coach parking, in Megalong St, is inadequate and often blocks the view of people trying to drive out of the Woolworths carpark.

But traffic problems will only be moved, not solved, if council goes ahead with a proposal to shift the tourist coach parking from Megalong St around the corner, residents say.

For Uniting Church minister, Rev John Bleyerveen, it's like a "death knell" for his congregation.

"It's horrendous," he said. "It really will be catastrophic to the life of the church. To put them [the buses] beside the length of the church if we open the windows it will make any worship service just impossible."

Further up Grose St, the owner of Starflower Apothecary, Kazia Eliott, thought it was "outrageous" to have coach parking out the front of her shop.

"It's unintelligent and inconsiderate and totally unacceptable," she said.

Dr Nick Tziavaras runs his general practice on Grose Street and while he has parking out the back, he was very concerned about visibility issues for patients coming and going.

"They can't see because of cars so I don't know how much worse it will be with big coaches," he said.

"This is just moving the same problem to a new location and it isn't really fixing it."

He was also concerned that council called this a "short-term solution" but gave no time frame for providing a longer-term answer. "How short is short-term? It could still be here in two or three years time."

Simone Barry, manager for Dr Therese Underwood's respiratory practice at the Railway Pde end of the street, wondered where workers would park if the current spots on Grose St were replaced by coach parking or two-hour limited spots for cars, part of council's proposal.

"I get here at 8 o'clock and the street is already parked out," Ms Barry said. "We also have patients on oxygen and they need to be close."

Next door, Wolthers Accounting Solutions also had rear parking but staff often had to use it because there is so little all-day parking in Leura for people who work there.

Office manager Mary O'Bryan said: "For people who don't have off-street parking, it's obviously going to make their lives hell."

Across the road, Danielle Handspiker, owner of Cherry Blossom Early Learning Centre, was concerned about safety.

"A lot of our parents walk here or catch the train. You can't see at the best of times we're worried about the safety of our parents and their children."

It would also create an unpleasant atmosphere as coaches frequently leave their engines idling to keep heating or air-conditioning systems going, she said.

There are also several private houses in the street but the residents were not home when the Gazette called.

The tourist bus issue was canvassed at a meeting of the Leura Village Association on April 30, where council staff proposed three options.

The LVA proposed a fourth, and the group was given a couple of weeks to make submissions.

In a letter dated May 29, council wrote it was proposing to move the tourist bus zone to the western side of Grose St, between Railway Pde and Megalong St. Comments or submissions were open until June 17 after which the matter will be referred to council's local traffic committee.

Some options