Scene set for parking row at Port Chalmers

A second battle over parking could be brewing for the Dunedin City Council amid fresh claims of failed consultation, in Port Chalmers, which have prompted an offer of mediation from deputy mayor Syd Brown.

The council on Monday confirmed changes to parking on George St - the town's main street - as well as outside the library and town hall.

They followed council staff reports to the Chalmers Community Board earlier this year, which noted that business owners, landlords and tenants had been consulted by the board.

However, eight George St business owners contacted by the Otago Daily Times this week said they had yet to hear anything from the board.

Barking Fish owner Graham White said he had also spoken to about 10 business owners yesterday, and not one had been aware the changes were afoot.

Some told the ODT they supported the changes, while others worried they would be pointless, counterproductive, or bad for business and staff.

Cr Brown - the chairman of the council's parking review working party - yesterday said it appeared there was "a disconnect" between the board and local business owners over consultation on the changes.

"It is slightly concerning that there's an understanding that everyone has been contacted and now we are finding they haven't been," he said.

His concern follows changes to inner-city parking in Dunedin last year, which prompted 175 complaints mainly from angry business owners claiming they had not been properly consulted.

The council's working party was established as a response to fix the situation, and eventually led to apologies, more than 150 further changes and the commissioning of an independent report - yet to be completed - to detail what went wrong.

Yesterday, Cr Brown defended the council's role in the latest issue, saying the council had learned from its past mistakes.

The community board was responsible for parking in Port Chalmers - as long as it kept within council policies - and this week's changes were a board initiative, he said.

"They are the elected representatives of Port Chalmers . . . it's not the council's role to step in and overrule them.

"Really, the buck stops at the community board."

However, Cr Brown said the working party was still active, and he would examine the changes if requested by a delegation from Port Chalmers.

"I would be prepared to step in if there's community disquiet."

Board acting chairman Steve Walker said the changes were first discussed in 2008, and consultation earlier this year had been carried out by board chairwoman Jan Tucker, who was overseas.

The consultation included door-to-door visits and public notices in the town's library and New World supermarket, which prompted a "good" number of responses, he said.

"Consultation was quite thorough, but if people didn't interact with it or see it they may have felt they were left out.

However, Port Chalmers New World store manager Darren Jones insisted he had not been approached and the changes were "news to me".

"I would have expected a letter ... instead of reading about it in the paper. It would have been nice."

chris.morris@odt.co.nz