Council spends $4600 on unneeded signs

Signs for paid parking in Tauranga were installed by mistake. Photo: SunLive / John Borren via LDR

Paid parking signs have been popping up around Tauranga despite the council pausing plans to extend parking charges.

On Monday, 22 January, contractors installed signs for paid parking on Tauranga's city fringe.

About 22 signs were erected on Monmouth St, Anson St, McLean St and The Strand at a cost of $4600.

This is despite Tauranga City Council delaying plans to extend the paid parking from Third Avenue up to Arundel Street, and from McLean Street up to Monmouth Street.

The charges were meant to come into force on 26 February, but a decision to delay them was made at a meeting in November.

Commission chair Anne Tolley said there was a "huge amount" of community concern about the parking.

The commission was not convinced of a case for extending the paid parking in the CBD when there was still a lot of parks available, Tolley said.

"Normally you put paid parking in when you're trying to manage [spaces] and get turnover.

"We've got good turnover in the centre of the city, so there's no need to try and extend that at this stage."

Council parking strategy manager Reece Wilkinson said the job for erecting the signs was logged in early October before the commission postponed the extension.

"It has slipped through the system and the signs are being removed today [Tuesday]."

The cost of the installation was included in the council's general maintenance work but worked out to be around $4600, including GST, he said.

Wilkinson said the council would know the exact number of signs incorrectly installed by the end of the day when removal was complete.

The commission will be reviewing the parking strategy in March.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.