By Gabriella Payne
With Christmas in the air, the Greater Dandenong City Council are spreading the good cheer by implementing a range of changes to parking fees in central Dandenong, as a road to recovery for the local community.
All on-street parking fees will be waived in central Dandenong until Thursday 31 December 2020, to encourage shoppers to buy from local businesses and support the retail precinct.
Chief executive officer Mr John Bennie said it was hoped that with the offer of free parking, more people would shop local.
“This will help Greater Dandenong businesses recover from the challenging events of 2020 sooner, particularly as we lead up to the festive season,” he said.
The council will also introduce free parking before 10am at the Dandenong Market, in order to spread out crowds on site.
From Friday 13 November, free parking will be available until 10am on market days (Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays), in addition to the current all-day free parking available on Sundays.
“We hope this will attract people in the early morning, and even out the numbers across the day,” Mr Bennie said.
Dandenong market general manager, Jennifer Hibbs, said: “with only five weeks to Christmas, the market will get very busy and we know some customers want to avoid those peak times between 10am and 2pm. Free parking before 10am every market day is a wonderful initiative.”
Although free, time limits still apply and will be enforced, so that all shoppers maintain easy access to the retail precinct.
Ms Hibbs encouraged market-goers to visit in the morning and make use of the free parking.
“Now that the weather is warmer, it’s easier to get up earlier,” she said. “It’s my favourite time to shop at the market anyway, when it first opens and the early morning sun shines through the market windows and doors and everything is fresh.”
The City of Greater Dandenong Council stated that the offer of free parking does not include off-street car parks in central Dandenong or the market car parks after 10am.
While the council hopes to see more people out and about supporting the local community in coming weeks, they reiterated the importance of maintaining Covid safe measures.
“While it’s important to attract more people back to local business, it’s also vital to make sure we all stay safe so we can stay open,” Mr Bennie said.
A marquee has been set up at the Dandenong market by the DHHS and council staff, to offer assistance with Covid safe practices to traders and hand out free masks and information to the general public.
For more information about the free parking announcement, visit the City of Greater Dandenong website: https://greaterdandenong.com/
