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Visitors to some of Sydney’s most popular beaches will soon face charges of up to $5.70 an hour to park after Randwick City Council bowed to sustained community pressure and dramatically scaled back the size of the contentious proposal.
After months of debate, the council has unveiled a revised coastal parking strategy that reduces the number of metered spaces at six beaches while introducing concessions in response to feedback from more than 12,000 residents, business owners and community groups.
Visitors parking near beaches including Coogee, Maroubra, Clovelly, Malabar, Little Bay and La Perouse would pay $5.70 an hour during summer and $4.70 an hour during winter.
Parking controls would operate daily between 8am and 6pm. A maximum four-hour stay is designed to encourage turnover.
Paid parking has been abandoned at Yarra Bay, while meters will be largely restricted to council-owned beach car parks, avoiding many residential streets and local shopping strips included in earlier plans. Exemptions have also been introduced for surf clubs and junior Nippers programs.
The revised plan expands residential parking permits, allowing eligible households to obtain permits for each registered vehicle after opposition to the original one-per-household model.
The changes represent a substantial retreat from the council’s original proposal, which included 3300 metered spaces. That figure has now been slashed to 1409 spaces: 544 at Maroubra, 292 at La Perouse, 250 at Clovelly, 208 at Coogee, 75 at Malabar and 40 at Little Bay.
Several free parking areas adjacent to beaches will also be retained.
The planned charges are lower than parking fees at other Sydney beaches, where visitors can pay up to $10 an hour at Manly, $10.50 at Balmoral and as much as $11.60 in Waverley.
Randwick Mayor Dylan Parker said the scheme aimed to balance the interests of visitors and ratepayers while helping fund the $23.5 million annual cost of maintaining beaches and surf lifesaving services.
“One of the key takeaways from the feedback we received was the recognition that it was fairer to ask visitors to make a modest contribution to the annual cost of operating and maintaining our beaches instead of locals having to bear 100 per cent of the cost,” he said.
Critics argue the debate extends beyond the cost of parking. Many submissions raised concerns that charging visitors could undermine the long-standing principle of free access to Sydney’s beaches. One resident described the proposal as a “revenue-raising exercise”.
Supporters say visitors from outside the area should contribute to the upkeep of beaches heavily used by non-residents.
The original proposal was expected to generate about $9 million annually through parking fees and compliance revenue. Under the revised scheme, total annual revenue is forecast to fall to between $3 million and $3.6 million.
Councillors will vote on the scheme next week. If approved, it will begin with a trial at Little Bay before expanding to Coogee, Maroubra, Clovelly and La Perouse over the next 12 months.
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David Barwell is an urban affairs reporter for The Sydney Morning HeraldConnect via email.From our partners
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