Council & Politics
25 October, 2025
Parking blitz
AFTER years of talking tough, Ararat Rural City Council has started to crack down on people who overstay parking limits in Ararat’s CBD. Council officers were out on the streets this week issuing $102 fines for people who exceeded the two hour parking limit.
The move is designed to make sure local traders and workers don’t park in the street for the entire day, preventing shoppers and visitors from stopping in town and patronising local businesses.
Council CEO Dr Tim Harrison said council continues to enforce parking time limits in Ararat’s CBD as part of its regular operations.
“Council has received an increase in complaints from businesses that are concerned about the number of cars parked in the shopping precinct longer than the allowed time – some even all day.
“Council is responding to these concerns by more regularly checking that drivers are doing the right thing.
“We encourage the community to respect parking times so that everyone has a chance to conveniently access businesses in the CBD.”
The parking issue has been on the agenda for some years after council removed parking metres in 2021.
Since then, there have been warnings of action, but council has held back on issuing fines in the hope the message would get through.
“We’ve had a little blitz because people are clearly overstaying and traders are overstaying their two hour limit and that is causing difficulties for people wanting to access local businesses and spend money in our town,” he said.
“A couple of years ago we brought in free parking which is a really good thing but it appears some people are abusing the system a bit at the moment and parking outside their businesses for the whole day.
“We will continue to issue fines into the future for people who have overstayed their parking, it will be an ongoing thing, but it will be a bit more intense in coming weeks,” Dr Harrison said.
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