The Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council has begun enforcing strict residential parking rules that ban large caravans, boats and trailers from long-term parking in residential streets. Vehicles longer than 7.5 metres cannot park in residential streets for more than an hour. Vehicles shorter than 7.5 metres may park there for up to 28 days before they must be moved. The rules also ban any vehicle from parking on the verge between the road and a property boundary.
Mayor Kenrick Winchester said the issue was prominent in the New South Wales town of Googong, where people use on-street parking to store large vehicles. "You bought a house out at Googong and you didn't plan to fit your big boat or caravan on the property that you bought, then that's all on you I guess," he said.
Local couple Sarah and Parveen, who have lived in Googong for nine years, welcomed the enforcement. They said caravans had stood on their street for months at a time and they now called it a "caravan park". Parveen said the vehicles take up a whole lane on a bend and make it hard to see. The Campervan and Motorhome Club of Australia criticised the crackdown as heavy-handed. Chief executive Richard Barwick said people would now have to pay for storage sites on top of rising fuel costs.