Whanganui district councillor Rob Vinsen has raised concerns about a council-commissioned report that says there is adequate parking at Pukenamu Queen's Park. Photo / Mike Tweed
Whanganui district councillor Rob Vinsen has raised concerns about a council-commissioned report that says there is adequate parking at Pukenamu Queen's Park. Photo / Mike Tweed
A report saying there is enough parking at Whanganui’s Pukenamu Queen’s Park has drawn the ire of a district councillor.
Te Whare o Rehua Sarjeant Gallery reopened in the park on November 9 after a decade-long redevelopment project and visitor numbers are expected to hit 80,000 in its first year.
According to a report commissioned by the Whanganui District Council, parking provided in the upper and lower areas would satisfy “calculated daily peak demand”.
However, there would be a shortfall when there were concurrent events in all the park’s buildings, it said.
The park also has the Davis and Alexander libraries at the top and the Whanganui Regional Museum and the War Memorial Centre at the bottom.
The War Memorial Centre has a large parking area on its forecourt for major events.
At a council operations and performance committee meeting, councillor Rob Vinsen said he was “baffled” by the report’s findings.
“A report that was done in August, when the gallery was closed, comes up with a recommendation that there is sufficient parking,” he said.
“Currently, there are fewer [car parks] than there were previously.
“The carpark beside the [Davis] library now has 10 car parks plus two mobility [parks] and there would have been at least double that before.”
Before the gallery redevelopment, the library carpark had 21 parks including two mobility parks.
Council property and open spaces general manager Sarah O’Hagan told councillors the assessment, which was preliminary, was made using past, current and forecast visitor data, traffic and pedestrian data, parking data and site visits.
Commissioning the report was a “fairly cheap exercise” because the company behind it used pre-existing data and made only one site visit, she said.
Around the park, Bell St between Ridgway St and Cameron Terrace had 95% occupancy for a whole day when the council observed it. No date was specified for when the “observation” took place.
Campbell St had 80% occupancy from 9am - mostly used by local businesses - and Cameron Terrace had become an overflow parking area during the Sarjeant redevelopment.
Further afield, Drews Ave was at 56% occupancy for paid parking in July, with no parking statistics for Saturdays and Sundays.
That was up from 38% in July 2023.
In October, some Drews Ave residents called on the council to introduce a parking permit for CBD residents because new paid meters were forcing them to park further along Bell St and into residential areas.
Bell St runs along the northwestern side of Pukenamu Queen’s Park.
The data included 41 traffic counts - recorded between 1983 and 2022 - on sections of roads around the park.
Only one count was made for Pukenamu Drive - the road running through the park - and that was in 2013.
It had an average daily traffic number of 401 vehicles.
The report recommended ongoing traffic monitoring over the next three to six months “to confirm the assumptions made in the assessment”.
“This monitoring should focus on foot traffic for each activity, parking demand for each activity and pedestrian routes through the park,” it said.
The council has not budgeted to provide more car parks. Photo / Mike Tweed
A new carpark north of the Davis Library or on the corner of Wicksteed and Guyton streets could also be investigated, it said.
Councillor Philippa Baker-Hogan asked if the land in front of the gallery was intended for parking.
O’Hagan said it was “intended for grass” and there were no plans for additional car parks to be installed but a more in-depth report would be released in February.
The council had not budgeted for more car parks or footpaths in the park, she said.
Earlier this year, a council proposal to build an inner city hotel and carpark was scrapped during the council’s 10-year (long-term) plan process.
A report from council libraries and community manager Pete Gray said parking had been the major concern in recent customer feedback.
“We will continue to monitor the situation once the [Sarjeant] construction works are completed,” it said.
Numbers were down on pre-Covid levels but had improved by 40% from 2021/22.
Vinsen said he drove through the park at 11am on a weekday to go to the gallery’s cafe and there were cars parked on the grass because there were no more spaces.
“Don’t keep the head in the sand by trying to say parking in the future is adequate,” he said.
Deputy Mayor Helen Craig said Vinsen’s comment was “totally unacceptable” and called a point of order, which was accepted.
Councillor Jenny Duncan said there would be considerable congestion during the first few weeks of the gallery’s reopening but it would ease up.
“It’s wonderful that so many in our community are taking the opportunity to visit up there at this time, it sends a very good message,” she said.
“I look forward to an update and the detail of the [February] report once we see what the real reality is going to be.”
Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.
