New central city parking policy for Christchurch

A new car parking policy in Christchurch aims to reduce "the number of single occupant fossil-fuelled motor vehicles on our roads".

Councillor Anne Galloway, who chaired the hearings panel that considered public submissions on the Christchurch Central City Parking Policy, said it aims to create more turnover of parking spaces, improved spaces to help people move around and better spaces for public transport, cycling and walking.

The policy has been adopted by Christchurch City Council.

"The policy provides a framework for better management of council-controlled parking and will help us to balance competing needs for limited street space," said Galloway.

"It will enable us to make evidence-based parking decisions that support sustainable modes of transport, such as electric vehicles, scooters and bikes.

"This will help us to meet the climate action targets by reducing the number of single occupant fossil-fuelled motor vehicles on our roads."

Galloway said a number of submissions were made about the city's temporary surface off-street parking lots as part of the public consultation.

There were 87 submissions made on the policy. More information on the policy and submissions can be found here.

"Since the earthquakes there has been a large proportion of vacant land in the central city that has been used for temporary parking.

"We have asked council staff to undertake a review of the role of these temporary parking lots so that we can get a better understanding of the impact they are having and whether we need to make any changes to the parking and consenting provisions in the District Plan," Galloway said.