Park it, council

By Danielle Galvin
Staff from businesses in John Street and Treloar Lane claim they were misled about the parking situation prior to construction of the Woolworths owned shopping centre.
Janelle Sinclair, who works at one of the businesses in John Street, said she was “quite disappointed” with the outcome.
She said the Cardinia Shire Council had led her to believe the parking in Cook Drive and James Street would be temporary.
“There’s been a lot of to-ing and fro-ing with the council. They told us to park in James Street but often it’s flooded and has no lighting,” she said.
“Sometimes we work back late and have to walk over there in the dark.”
She said the council told her to park in the Pakenham Library car park, which has no time limits.
“I don’t think that the library would be happy with the council telling us to use their car parks.”
In a lengthy email conversation, Ms Sinclair was told that the Pakenham Business Group had been consulted at length before a decision was made to enforce a time restriction.
Ms Sinclair said that the council told her that a review would be taking place after Christmas.
“I’m happy to wait and for the situation to be looked at. For the people I have spoken to, the general consensus is that it’s been quite deceiving. When I contacted the council I was quite annoyed by their response,” she said.
For the time being, Ms Sinclair said she would park in the Target car park off Main Street.
But she said the problem would continue if the council failed to act.
“While we have literally been counting down the number of days until we have our car park back, we find out a couple of days before the shopping centre opening that this car park was never going to be returned to us,” Ms Sinclar wrote in the email.
Belinda Malcolm, who owns Butterfly Body Works in Treloar Lane, said the issue was dangerous for her staff working late at night.
“There’s not enough lighting and there’s always groups of teens hanging around,” she said.
But a spokesperson for the Cardinia Shire Council, Paul Dunlop, said the additional 1000 car parking spaces was a “major improvement” and that the parking situation would need to be suit business owners, customers and the wider community.
“The parking arrangements for the area known as Pakenham Marketplace and for the general areas specifically on the eastern side of Main Street were decided by Cardinia Shire Council only after careful consideration of the issues and consultation with the Pakenham Business Group,” Mr Dunlop said.
Mr Dunlop said that Pakenham Central boasted all-day parking, a short distance from business operators in and around central Pakenham.
“Council considered the aspect of parking and the need to ensure there was improved parking as a whole for the township. It is considered that the new arrangements will provide significant benefit to business operators and their customers as well as the wider community,” he said.
“Residents and business operators can be rest assured that council will continue to review and improve parking in Pakenham.”