By Tate Papworth
Years of parking pain at Watergardens station could soon be over.
The state government has pledged to build more than 500 additional parking spaces at the station.
The commitment is part of a plan to build 600 new and upgraded carparks across the west, including sites in Wyndham Vale, Werribee and Tarneit.
The upgrades will include new lighting and CCTV for increased safety.
Sydenham MP Natalie Hutchins welcomed the announcement.
“We know how frustrating it is to find a carpark at the station – that’s why we will build over 500 carparks at Watergardens to help get locals where they need to go faster,” she said.
Parking woes at Watergardens station have been the source of community frustration and political discussion for a number of years.
The problem was compounded in 2016 when Watergardens Shopping Centre imposed four-hour parking limits to eliminate all-day parking.
A community petition calling for a long-term solution to the parking problem was circulated soon after and received almost 650 signatures.
In 2016, Star Weekly revealed that the state government was investigating ways to increase carparking around the station.
An investigative group was chaired by Ms Hutchins and included representatives from Public Transport Victoria, VicTrack, Brimbank council and the owners of Watergardens Town Centre.
The group was to report its findings by the end of 2016, but by mid-2017 no progress had been made.
The government said the additional carparks were part of its plan to deliver two new electrified metro rail lines – to Melton and Wyndham Vale.
Earlier this month, Premier Daniel Andrews pledged $150 million toward a business case for the Western Rail Plan that would include fast rail to Geelong and Ballarat and the full separation of regional and metro train services.
If Labor is elected, work on the business case will start next year and be finished by 2022, with the full project delivered by 2032.
