Sunbury’s ‘mothballed’ plan back on agenda

Sunbury residents say Hume council has had a solution to the town’s parking woes since 2008, but has failed to act on it.

The residents association last week called on the council to revisit its 2008 Sunbury Town Centre plan, which proposed multi-deck parking at two existing carparks.

The plan, adopted by the council, identified Barkly Street and Station Street carparks as sites for “multi-deck car parking structure[s]”, each containing about 200 new spaces.

Sunbury Residents Association vice-president Trevor Dance said the association was “drumming the campaign up” to get more infrastructure in Sunbury.

Mr Dance said the group wanted to know why the 2008 plans had not been used.

“Why do council write all these reports and do nothing with them?” Mr Dance asked. “Parking is a crucial part of infrastructure.”

A lack of parking in Sunbury has been a pressing issue for years.

Last month, Sunbury Business Association made a submission to the council’s budget asking for a solution to parking woes. It said Sunbury’s limited parking was having a widespread impact.

“Feedback from SBA members, the Sunbury business community, shoppers from Sunbury and surrounding regions, and the general public is that impacts are widespread,” SBA president Michael Osborne wrote.

“Every day, more local and regional income is being spent outside of Sunbury.”

Mr Dance said he counted 10 empty shopfronts when he drove through Sunbury two weeks ago.

He said the lack of carparking was also a huge concern for future population growth.

Star Weekly sought comment from Hume council.