Greater Taree City Council staff recently took to the streets to survey people in the central business district about current parking arrangements and time limits.

I completed the short survey when a council staff member visited the editorial office of The Manning River Times in Albert Street. When asked the reason for the survey, I learned from the council employee that "council was looking at electronic monitoring." The survey did not include a question about electronic monitoring of parking spaces.

A request to council for specific advice on the parking survey resulted in advice that "it's preliminary research only to test the current state of play, so at this stage nothing to report."

However, the current state of play for the council's located to the north and south of the Greater Taree local government area is that electronic parking is part of the mix in the management of ranger resources and revenue from parking offences.

The NSW Office of State Revenue reveals revenue raised by Greater Taree City Council from parking offences is significantly lower than the amounts secured by Great Lakes and Port Macquarie-Hastings councils. The two councils have introduced electronic parking, however, the demographic of the two local government areas are different and statistics reveal spikes in parking offences during peak tourist seasons.

The total face value of parking offences in the Greater Taree area in the period from the 2010/11 financial year to 2014/15 financial year is $534,357, Great Lakes Council reported $739,555 and Port Macquarie Hastings Council $2,648,841.

This financial year the reported figures for September, October and November are $13,096, $11,086, $19,132. In the bordering months of August and December of that period the number of notices and revenue plummeted; in August just 12 notices were issued securing $1260 and in December it was only slightly higher with 14 notices totalling just $1729.

Port Macquarie-Hastings Council introduced monitored parking to 627 car spaces in March 2012 and at that time council's development and environmental compliance manager Tim Atherton explained that the technology recorded how long a car was parked, and that the detector notified rangers and parking officers through a hand-held device when the car over-stayed the time limit of the parking space.

More recently, Great Lakes Council installed parking sensors in Memorial Drive and Wharf Street in Forster to create "a fairer system for drivers in the Great Lakes."

In August 2015 Great Lakes acted to install the sensors under the road surface in the car parking spaces and council's manager of waste health and regulatory services, John Cavanagh was quick to state that "it's not about the revenue at all!" and that "council expects that after a short introductory period, fewer penalty notices will be issued for this offence - so council's revenue will drop substantially."

However, the figures provided by the NSW Office of State Revenue reveal the council's revenue did not "drop substantially" as predicted by Mr Cavanagh, when compared to the same four month period in the previous financial year; revenue increased by more than $19,000.

In the 2014/15 financial year for the period from September to December, 277 parking offences were issued with a total face value of $57,507 and in the 2015/16 financial year for the same period, 434 parking offences were issued with a total face value of $77,139. Looking further back to the 2013/14 and 2012/13 financial years, Great Lakes Council still earned more revenue from parking offences in the 2015/16 financial year.

Forster Tuncurry Business Chamber worked with Great Lakes Council and when it was announced and president Gary Gersbacj said, "we support timed parking spaces. The shorter stays allow our customers to find a car park in busy peak period."

"In addition, more visitors to an area generates more business for traders."

Manning Valley Business Chamber president Jeremy Thornton last week said the chamber members would welcome any discussion with council about how to improve parking in the central business district of Taree.

"Parking is a contentious issue. Whether the introduction of electronic parking is a solution, I don't know, but anything that will help to improve traffic flow and movement in the central business district will be welcome."

ainslee.dennis@fairfaxmedia.com.au