Port Campbell will become the first town in Corangamite Shire to introduce timed parking and fines for overstayers.
The background: Council staff conducted a review from December 2025 to January 2026 to gauge peak traffic behaviour and provided councillors with 13 recommendations, including:
Introducing a two-hour parking limit in Lord Street;
Five 30-minute spaces near the general store;
Seasonal four-hour parking along the foreshore, and;
New bus parking and loading zones.
Last Tuesday, councillors voted to adopt recommendations from the review.
The changes follow the coastal town’s major streetscape overhaul, completed in April last year.
What councillors said: Councillor Jamie Vogels moved the motion, adding an extra point to the recommendation, which required the council to review the streetscape project and parking changes in one year.
“Obviously, when it's all new, it's mayhem, and people don't like change,” he told the Brolga. “But once it's been in for a season or two, then we can have a look and say, ‘Well, these are the things that are actually working, and these aren't’.”
Councillor Ruth Gstrein opposed the motion, warning against having to “backtrack” in 12 months.
“I don't have an argument that there’s a parking problem in Port Campbell; there have been problems down there for a number of years,” she told the meeting.
“I think we really should get it right rather than have to go back and do the review in 12 months and then say the parking thing doesn’t work.”
Councillor Geraldine Conheady disagreed, arguing the town’s parking availability and community responses had been “well enough examined”.
“To pause it now would just mean that it's not going to get implemented for this summer,” Vogels added.
What will change? The shire has never had timed or paid parking in any of its towns.
“We’ll have to have enforcement officers that can go around, so there’ll be fines,” Vogels said, but the cost of fines was yet to be determined.
A grace period during community education will be confirmed before the peak season starts. In Melbourne, parking fines typically range from $104 to $209.
“We never go heavy-handed. We’re here to help, and if you’re not helping yourself, then the fines will come,” Vogels said.
Current capacity: The review, completed by Traffix Group, counted 1,064 car spaces across the entire study area, made up of 923-on street and 141 off-street spaces.
Of those, 709 were in the key focus area around the town centre, with many on uphill side streets with no marked lines.
The report noted a reduction of 15 parking spaces in the town centre on and around Lord Street as a result of the streetscape project, taking the number from 253 to 238 through landscaping and widened parking spaces.
At peak times, parking in the town centre reached 95 percent capacity. One survey showed that on Tregea Street, 69 of 74 spaces were occupied, while 35 of 37 were taken on Cairns Street between Tregea and Lord streets.
On Lord Street, 40 of 45 spaces were in use.
“Outside of peak periods, it’s good, but when you come into a nice day in summer or school holidays, it’s very hard to get a park,” Vogels said.
“Personally, I've never been to Port Campbell and gone home because I couldn't get a park, it’s just sometimes you've got to walk.
"We shouldn't shy away from the chance to make things better when we can.”