Commuters catching the train from Watergardens station are parking their cars at a Sydenham aged-care centre, blocking access for staff and visitors.
Watergardens Heritage Care (WHC), just 300 metres up the road from the station, has had to issue parking permits to prevent train commuters using its carpark.
It follows the June 27 introduction of four-hour parking limits at nearby Watergardens shopping centre.
In a letter to residents and their families, WHC’s acting general manager Meg Willis said the centre’s carpark was “occupied by strangers who park their vehicles for the day and walk to the train station to go to work.”
“This impacts on our community because Heritage Care staff and visitors don’t have access to our carpark for the purpose it’s intended. In an effort to manage the situation, we have installed council signs to inform drivers that the carpark is for staff and visitors to WHC only,” she said.
Anyone now using the centre’s carpark is required to display a permit card on their car dashboard.
WHC resident Tom Rigg said the new system had caused “some difficulties”, and he had written to Sydenham MP Natalie Hutchins requesting she look into using land to the west of the railway line, towards St Albans, for car- parking.
Star Weekly reported last month that a working group would investigate options for more parking around Watergardens station.
The group will be chaired by Ms Hutchins and include representatives from Public Transport Victoria, VicTrack and Brimbank council, and Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC), which owns Watergardens shopping centre.
The group has been asked to report to Transport Minister Jacinta Allen by year’s end.
Ms Hutchins said determining how much extra parking would be added, and where it would be, was not yet known and would be worked through by the group.
Brimbank council’s acting director of city development, Ashley Hansen, said the council was aware of community concerns about the shortfalls in long-term parking around the train station.
To date, 22 warnings have been issued to drivers who have overstayed the time limit now in place at the shopping centre, but no parking infringements have been issued at the centre or for drivers who have parked without a valid permit at WHC.
