Wyndham council is keen to tap into a state government commuter parking funding pool in a bid to fix a chronic shortage of carparking around train stations and stop commuters parking illegally.
The illegal parking is causing congestion in residential streets and private business car parks.
Wyndham council is keen to have more car spots at Werribee, Hoppers Crossing and Williams Landing stations.
The state government has committed $20 million over four years for new carparking spaces at stations across Melbourne using existing government land.
Wyndham councillor and transport portfolio-holder Glenn Goodfellow said that ever since Wyndham stations were rebranded zone 1, commuter carparking demand had shifted from Laverton – which used to be the final city-bound zone 1 station – to stations in Wyndham.
Cr Goodfellow said the problem was particularly bad at Williams Landing, which has 500 car spaces.
He said commuters were parking dangerously and illegally, particularly in the area south of the Princes Freeway, next to the Palmers Road embankment and within the carparks of Wallace Avenue businesses, prompting complaints from business owners.
“Given that we’re the biggest growth corridor here in Wyndham, I believe that we should get the funding, as opposed to marginal seats,” he said.
The council is lobbying the state government for a new commuter carpark at the foot of the Palmers Road overpass, on the south side, and an additional 140-space carpark west of the Werribee River for Werribee train station.
Opportunities to increase commuter parking at Hoppers Crossing station are limited, but the council is looking at VicTrack land, more on-street parking and possible short-term arrangements with private landholders near the station.
A spokesperson for Public Transport Minister Jacinta Allan said the government was auditing all land holdings along metropolitan train lines to determine which locations could receive extra parking.
