Changes to parking in your area

The Moreland Integrated Transport Strategy

In March 2019, Council adopted the Moreland Integrated Transport Strategy (MITS).

Merri-bek’s population is projected to grow by 43,000 people and 18,000 households by 2036. 

MITS is part of addressing this. It encourages people to choose more sustainable transport options, such as walking, cycling and using public transport. This will have a big impact when our population grows, because otherwise traffic congestion will become an issue.

We developed MITS after 3 phases of community consultation held in 2017 and 2019.

MITS key objectives and directions

The objective of MITS, is a Merri-bek that is:

• liveable
• sustainable
• safe
• healthy
• accessible
• equitable for all
• prosperous.

Through MITS, we plan to deliver:

• a 10-year capital works plan to develop and deliver sustainable transport infrastructure to give greater priority to pedestrians, cyclists and public transport
• advocacy to state government to improve public transport frequency, reliability and accessibility
• safer, quieter streets.

We aim to make street safer through:

• the continued implementation of 40km/hour speed limits on all local streets
• reduced speed limits on arterial roads near places like schools, hospitals and activity centres
• a 12-month trial of 30km/hour speed limits in two select areas in south Merri-bek
• closure of some local roads to through traffic, while continuing access for pedestrians, cyclists and local traffic.

We plan to manage parking better by:

• allowing new developments in Neighbourhood Centres and the Brunswick, Coburg and Glenroy Activity Centres to provide less parking, including no longer specifying a minimum parking requirement for Activity Centres
• making sure new developments can’t use on-street parking long-term, by expanding parking restrictions to cover our Neighbourhood Centres and within about 200 metres of Activity Centres
• continuing to provide residents, except those in newer developments (subdivided after August 2011), with greater opportunity to park near their home through our parking permit scheme
• giving 50 per cent discounts on resident and visitor parking permits to all Centrelink and Department of Veterans Affairs cardholders
• investigating opportunities to expand the use of paid parking for all-day parking opportunities, introducing a $10 daily cap.
• creating new permits for tradespeople working in the area, a business permit to park in business permits zones, and a user pays permit, a general-purpose daily or weekly permit for eligible residents
• temporarily changing the exceptional circumstances appeals process for parking permits, to allow for more exceptions to be considered as MITS is implemented.

• MITS consultation

  July and August 2018: we consulted on the Draft Merri-bek Integrated Transport Strategy (MITS) and what was then called the Draft Parking Strategy. This involved:

  • opportunities to provide feedback through an online feedback form and by mail, phone and email
  • face to face “pop up” consultation events in Glenroy, Fawkner and Brunswick.

  We sent almost 40,000 letters out to everybody directly affected by proposed changes letting them know they they could give us feedback.

  October 2018: We held a hearing of submissions, which gave people the opportunity to give feedback directly to Councillors.

  You can read more information about the feedback that we received on the Draft MITS and Draft Parking Strategy in:

  • MITS Phase 3 (July to August 2018) Engagement Report (PDF 434Kb), and
  • MITS Submitters Forum (17 October 2018) Key Findings Report. (PDF 578Kb).
• Read the Merri-bek Integrated Transport Strategy documents

  Download the Merri-bek Integrated Transport Strategy documents that were adopted by Council:

  • Moreland Integrated Transport Strategy (MITS 2019) (PDF 25Mb)
  • Moreland Integrated Transport Strategy (MITS 2019) Appendix (PDF 2Mb)
  • Parking Implementation Plan (PDF 3Mb)

  We have prepared a fact sheet and frequently asked questions to help you understand these changes:

  • Fact Sheet - Merri-bek Integrated Transport Strategy (PDF 724Kb)
  • Frequently Asked Questions - Merri-bek Integrated Transport Strategy (PDF 892Kb)

What changes have happened so far?

In 2019, changes were made to parking in:

• Grantham Street, Brunswick West, which can be seen on this map
• West Street, Hadfield, which can be seen on this map.

However, at a meeting in December 2020, Council resolved to abandon planned future MITS parking restrictions and changes in all Activity Centres (Coburg, Brunswick and Glenroy) and all Neighbourhood Centres. Instead, Council voted in making further MITS changes based on community support and/or high levels of parking demand on a street-by-street basis.

At the meeting, Council:

• reaffirmed the objective of mode shift to more sustainable transport options
• recognised that using sustainable alternatives to driving is difficult for many in Merri-bek, partly due to lack of investment in the public transport system by the state government, particularly in the North of Merri-bek
• noted that mode shift requires strong investment in public transport, cycling, walking and other sustainable transport infrastructure, as well as incentives and encouragements to take up sustainable transport.

Because of this decision:

• MITS 2019 is being amended and a report will be received by Council in April 2021
• We are currently surveying the community to see if they want to keep the parking changes in Brunswick West and Hadfield, and they will be removed if there is no support for the changes
• planned parking changes due to happen in near Brunswick and Coburg activity centres will now not happen
• planned parking changes due to happen in Glenroy activity centre and smaller parts of Brunswick West, Brunswick East, Pascoe Vale South, Fawkner, Oak Park, Coburg North, Fitzroy North will now not happen
• changes to parking will now be based on community support and/or high levels of parking demand on a street-by-street basis.

If parking restrictions were introduced in your street because of changes in 2019, the restrictions will remain while the survey is happening. If you had to pay for a parking permit, you will be refunded if the survey does not find enough community support for the changes.

See our parking permit pages to find out how you can get the right parking permit

For more information, please contact us by calling 9240 1111 or email the transport team.

The Merri-bek Parking Management Strategy

The Moreland Parking Management Strategy provides a process and guide for our officers who respond to requests for parking restrictions and other parking measures. It was originally adopted in 2011 and was revised in 2020.

The main purpose of the policy is to explain to people how we:

• select areas to put kerbside parking bays so that they benefit residents, businesses, and users with a disability.
• provide fair access to on-street and off-street parking bays
• encourage the use of sustainable transport
• manage traffic flow in Merri-bek
• categorising parking bay locations according to user priority, and
• formalising current Council Transport Unit practices.

When MITS was introduced, the following changes were made to the Merri-bek Parking Management Strategy:

• creating two new types of parking permits, a Service permit and a User-pays permit
• expanding 50 per cent concession discounts to apply to all residential and visitor permits, and for all Centrelink and Department of Veterans Affairs card holders
• introducing a daily cap on the price of paid parking ($10 per day in 2019-20)
• providing more information on decision making where decision under this policy are appealed
• temporarily providing greater appeal rights during the first two years of MITS implementation