Residents frustrated by parking ban
Some Park Street residents say they're being unfairly penalised by an overnight parking ban aimed at freedom campers, and are demanding parking permits.
Approved by councillors last month, the ban prohibits parking on both sides of the lakeside Queenstown street, close to downtown, between 10pm and 6am.
Scores of freedom campers had been using the street as an unofficial camp site over the summer months, living out of vans sometimes parked for weeks at a time outside multi-million dollar homes.
Residents reported "waste everywhere, people cooking, partying, making noise in the small hours", while Councillor Craig Ferguson described the situation as having “shades of Woodstock".
Queenstown Lakes District Council can no longer enforce its district-wide freedom camping bylaw, as it was deemed invalid by the High Court after being successfully challenged by the New Zealand Motor Caravan Association.
So it banned overnight parking altogether on Park Street and also Lake Esplanade, following on from banning overnight parking at Queenstown Events in February.
While that's been welcomed by many residents, for others, especially those who live in shared housing like Luke Ashcroft, it has created more problems than it solves.
"With the cost of living in Queenstown, people have to share housing, but the rules don't take that into account," Ashcroft says.
"Our house was built in the 70s, and our driveway isn't big enough for the number of cars we have. We've got personal cars and then also work vehicles, including utes with tools inside, which need to be close to the house for security."
Ashcroft, who is receiving physiotherapy for a knee injury, and other residents now have to park half a kilometre away from their home, if they can find a space.
He's complained directly to the council and says residents can't understand why QLDC hasn't issued parking permits.
"What we’re asking for is really simple," Ashcroft says. "Just ask residents to register their vehicles with the council and give them parking permits. I don't know why this wasn't part of the process from the start."
Instead, QLDC has said residents must wait for a full review of the district-wide parking strategy.
"We’re currently undertaking a major project looking at parking management across the district," a QLDC spokesperson says. "One outcome of this will be localised draft Parking Management Plans (PMPs) going out for community feedback. These will cover potential measures including parking permits, fee charging processes, and parking considerations for a range of users such as bikes, motorbikes and coaches."
The first tranche of PMPs are likely to cover three priority locations: the town centres of Queenstown and Wānaka, and the east side of Frankton.
"This is a long-term project that will be running over this current Long Term Plan cycle through to June 2027. Hence it will be some months before we’re in a position to share more details. In the interim, operational changes to parking will be limited to avoid rework later on."
In the meantime, the spokesperson says QLDC welcomes further feedback from residents about these recent changes, and parking matters in general.
Contact the customer service team – services@qldc.govt.nz / 03 4410499.
