Parking education
Season’s greetings to you for the
Christmas and New Year holiday!
Over the holiday period 2023-2024 we will be out and about talking to people or leaving a notice on their vehicles as a friendly reminder of where, how, and for how long you can park in any given spot.
For instance, you may have parked:
- Overtime for a spot
- On yellow lines
- On a footpath
- On a mobility parking space (Note: a mobility card must be displayed.)
Why are we doing doing this?
In February 2023, the Council consulted on two amendments to the 2020 Roading Bylaw to introduce a mechanism to control and restrict parking, and for the bylaw to align with the Land Transport Act.
The Council has a strong culture of education rather than enforcement, to promote greater awareness and to get people used to an increased monitoring of their parking habits. However, with increasing numbers of complaints and the district’s growth, it has become clear that we will need to take stronger measures and look to issuing issue infringements for offences when vehicles are not parked safely or parked inconsiderate to other road users.
The fact is, towns like Cromwell and Alexandra are growing, and we want to ensure safe access to our streets and roads, and encourage people to be considerate of where, how, and for how long they park.
Parking infringements
Parking in the Central Otago District Council is free, although some spaces have time restrictions in place on public roads and carparks where parking is in high demand. Signs showing time restrictions will be clearly visible. Take the time to read the signs. To give you an idea of fines, parking overtime means a fine ranging between $12 to $57, depending on the length of the overstay. All other parking offences range between $40 and $150.
Before you park, please do take the time to read the signs and notice your surroundings. This ensures you don’t inconvenience others and avoid unnecessary expense, now or in the future.
We want to ensure that:
- Vehicles are parked safely, correctly and in accordance with the law.
- Roads are kept clear to enable the free flow of traffic.
- On street parking and public carparks are used fairly.
- People park in the desired manner.
Currently, we are in period of education, however in the future, in accordance with our local and national parking legislation, we will be moving into issuing infringements for parking safety offences on public roads and spaces.