By ANTHONY RADFORD

THE City of Greater Bendigo council’s new car parking strategy is continuing to attract criticism.

The council is creating about 400 extra on-street car spaces throughout the CBD, mostly by turning 45 degree angle parks to 90 degrees.

The Bendigo Weekly is contacted almost on a weekly basis by people complaining about the changes.

Cathie Simpson and Jane Grindrod work in a business on McLaren Street.

Each day they battle with reversing out of the 90-degree car parks, concerned about the oncoming traffic.

“I have been here seven years and I am refusing to park here now,” Mrs Simpson said.

“It is too dangerous when you come out. You have to reverse out into oncoming traffic that you can’t see until you are out.

“It is dangerous and it is an accident waiting to happen.” Mrs Grindrod agreed.

“You are nearly cleaned up by a car every time because you have to come straight out into the traffic,” she said.

“The other day both lanes of traffic were being held up, including a truck, just because someone was coming out of a car park.”

In a 10-minute period watching the road, traffic was held up at least five times.

The street is home to two white good retailers.

While the Weekly was watching, one truck was unloading merchandise and two were waiting on the street, blocking a lane on the narrow road.

At the same time a car was reversing out of a park across the road, meaning the entire street was blocked and cars both way were queuing up.

In its bid to increase the number of car spaces, the council had also created a spot in front of a walkway in a no-standing zone.

Withing three hours of asking council for a response, the no-standing sings were removed.

City of Greater Bendigo chief executive officer Craig Niemann said the council was monitoring all of the recent changes it had made to create additional car parking spaces in the CBD.

“We are closely monitoring the impact of creating these additional spaces and if we need to make some adjustments or changes we will not hesitate,” he said.

“Christmas is a peak shopping time and car parking is at a premium.

“As a result our local roads are extremely busy and somewhat congested at various times of the day.

“We rely heavily on feedback from residents to rectify problems that may arise.”

Mr Neimann said he would welcome feedback from residents.

“They really are Council’s eyes and ears and we do appreciate it when they phone us to report problems,” he said.

“This gives us an opportunity to look into the matter and if it’s appropriate do something about it.”