Moorabool Car Parking Study

The Moorabool Car Parking Study is looking at all aspects of car parking across the Shire

What the community told us in April and May 2021:

The majority of feedback from the online consultation related to the Bacchus Marsh area (95%), and was largely within the six identified precincts, confirming the initial work undertaken in identifying key areas of car parking issues. In particular, the area around Bacchus Marsh Primary School received the most comments from residents, employees and parents.
Nearly 30% of the comments related to improvements to the pedestrian environment through safety and improved connections across roads. 

What the study has found so far:

• A survey of car parks in Moorabool Shire has been undertaken, finding Bacchus Marsh has 4,005 on and off-street parking spaces and Ballan has 1,931 on and off-street parking spaces in the core town areas.
• Bacchus Marsh and Ballan are going to experience increasing parking pressures due to significant projected population growth. Their competitiveness with neighbouring centres such as Melton and Ballarat is dependent on provision of a convenient and desirable resident and retail experience. A key to maintaining that will be incorporating forecasting and demand management into the future provision of parking.
• While the study has a focus on the two largest towns in the shire (Bacchus Marsh and Ballan), recommendations of general parking supply and management approaches appropriate for smaller settlements, which are broadly applicable to the whole shire will be included in the study, and applied through a Car Parking Policy which will be developed based on the Study and this consultation.

Consultants engaged to review the parking management in the town centres have found that access to parking and support for small businesses can be improved by the following actions:

• Optimising availability of premium spaces that are often occupied, to reduce driver frustration by minimising search time;
• Reducing the negative impact of parking on ‘country village’ amenity and the unique peri-rural attractiveness of town centres;
• Minimising number of new driveways and vehicle access points which interrupt pedestrian flows in town centres;
• Improving disability permit parking availability and design to ensure ease of access for all;
• Improving pedestrian amenity to better distribute car parking demands by increasing street tree canopy cover, verandas and priority for pedestrians;
• Consolidating future car parking in areas to be shared by any member of the public;
• Providing a full range of parking options around high demand car storage areas (such as Bacchus Marsh and Ballan Stations) in order to meet the needs of people who arrive late;
• Encouraging mixed-use development including residential dwellings within 1.2km of town centres to increase local economic activity and reduce reliance on car access to the centres;
• Improving compliant parking through public awareness and more regular parking enforcement;
• Reviewing car parking availability, visitation rates and visitor market segments on a regular basis; and
• Changing the Moorabool Planning Scheme to better reflect the lower rate of parking required in each town centre and Council’s vision for economic growth in the centres