Parking wardens have raised concerns about working the later shifts. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Parking wardens have raised concerns about working the later shifts. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Wellington City Council is looking to scrap late night parking fees until 10pm at the weekend, only months after the policy was agreed to in the first place.
Mid-last year councillors voted to extend metered parking until 10pm on Fridays and Saturdays, and until 8pm every other night.
But parking wardens have since raised safety concerns about working the later hours, with some going as far as resigning over the situation.
Mayor Andy Foster is more than happy to put the kibosh on the policy, which he never liked anyway, saying the move will also support hospitality businesses and the arts sector at a tough time.
The original policy already had to be changed from two-hour time limits until 10pm to four-hour time limits instead.
This was after the council received an open letter signed by 16 hospitality and arts stakeholders including the New Zealand Opera, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Circa Theatre, and the Royal New Zealand Ballet.
The group said two-hour parking limits would not give audiences enough time to attend an event.
Essentially they worried people would have to get up in the middle of the ballet or a play to move their vehicles.
Wellington mayor Andy Foster. Photo / Mark Mitchell
But Foster told the Herald a paper would be coming before the council at the end of the month to backtrack on the 10pm policy entirely.
He said he was pleased to be "walking it back".
"I didn't like it in the first place. It was a blanket across the whole central city, when quite clearly you can see that the level of demand for parking is much lower in a large chunk of the city.
"At this time in particular, when businesses have been so affected by Covid and the government restrictions, if we can do something to be of assistance and reduce a barrier to coming into the central city, then here is a step that we can take."
Foster said technically paid parking until 10pm has been in play for some months, but just not enforced.
If councillors agree to scrap the 10pm policy, paid parking will only be in place until 8pm every day of the week. This is itself still an extension of previous metered hours when paid parking was only until 6pm most nights of the week.
E tū organiser Michael Gilchrist said concerns raised by parking officers seem to have been taken into account.
"Health and safety (especially hostility from the public), catching public transport late at night after finishing their shifts, potential disruption to family life and pre-existing rosters."
But Gilchrist also noted parking wardens were now working shifts which lasted until 8.30pm.
"We believe it's fair to say that the change in rostering parking officers on until 8.30pm in the evening has probably had an impact on the recruitment and retention of workers," Gilchrist said.
Black Swan, White Swan by the Royal New Zealand Ballet. Photo / Stephen A'Court
In August the Herald reported there were 16 vacancies for parking wardens at Wellington City Council after several quit because of safety concerns with the new late-night shifts.
Wellington City Council spokesman Richard MacLean said there were currently about 10 vacancies.
There has also been a "significant increase" in the number and severity of assaults on wardens in Wellington since the first Covid-19 lockdown.
"This has had an effect on the overall turnover of staff in the last 10-12 months as people decide that coming to work just to be verbally abused every day is no longer rewarding," MacLean has said.
Meanwhile, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra director Kaine Thompson said they were delighted the council has heard and understood the concerns of the arts and hospitality sectors in Wellington.
"This is an incredibly difficult time for these key sectors, and we welcome this decision both for our sectors and for Wellingtonians generally."
New Zealand Opera marketing and development director Terri Cumiskey was also pleased.
"The current environment is challenging enough without the added inconvenience and cost of late night parking so this seems to be a decision based on common sense. Thank you."
