Parking - Ashburton District Council

Parking in the urban areas of Ashburton District is provided to the public in three categories.

Free All Day Parking – This is provided on most streets outside the central business districts of the main towns. There do not appear to be any problems resulting from this activity and parking in these areas is controlled by the Police.
Time Restricted Parking – This has been introduced in high use areas throughout the District with the time restriction being tailored to the location. Time restrictions are enforced by New Zealand Police and by Council’s parking enforcement staff.
Metered Parking - this is provided only in the Ashburton Central Business District. The metered parking spaces have a maximum time limit of between 30 and 120 minutes, depending on the location. User charges are currently $1.00 per hour in metered parking zones. The fine for an expired meter is currently between $12 and $57 other infringement fines vary according to the offence.

The activity reports to the Parking Sub-committee of the Council. Council employs enforcement wardens and issues infringement notices for:

Expired meters
Parking in excess of a time limit or in contravention of a bylaw
Parking in prohibited areas – broken yellow lines, loading zones etc.
Inconsiderate parking or any other parking offences designated by statute

The Council provides parking as part of the Operation Mobility scheme run by CCS. This allows disabled people to not only have designated parking spaces, but also to park in any space beyond the time restrictions. The Council also provides free parking in the West Street car park adjacent to the Ashburton CBD. Further consultation is to be undertaken in 2006 regarding a proposal to install pay and display machines in this car park, which will improve availability of parking in the town centre.

There is all day parking provided as well as limited time parking. This all day parking is provided primarily to ensure workers in the Ashburton central business district have access to suitable off-street parking and without the need to drive through the busiest parts of the central business district to access the parking. Off street parking is also provided at some suburban shopping areas in Ashburton, Methven and Rakaia.

Parking enforcement is carried out under the Ashburton District Council “Parking” bylaw 1999, the Land Transport Act 1962, the Traffic regulations 1976 and the Road User Rules 2004. The Parking activity also enforces litter control under the Litter Act 1979.

Parking Meters
There are currently 320 metered parking spaces within Ashburton central business district, 500 timed spaces and 30 all-day parking spaces.

The electronic meters have the ability to accept several different coins, namely 10 cent, 20 cent, 50 cent, $1 and $2 coins.

Use of Parking Income

The Parking activity generates revenue from fees and infringement fines and from parking meters charges. Surplus revenue generated by this activity is applied to providing, upgrading and maintaining parking facilities in the District with first priority given to the source of the revenue. Unused funds remain in the Parking Reserve account. The balance of the parking reserve is currently proximately $370,000 and is expected to accumulate to reach over a $1 million from 2014/2015 onwards.