Our valued client, First Parking, and owners of major retail shopping centres in Adelaide (and around Australia) are closely monitoring the progress of the Private Parking Areas (Shopping Centre Parking Areas) Amendment Bill 2022 (SA).

The Bill

• Proposes to prohibit landowners of major retail shopping centres from charging car parking fees unless they have obtained the prior approval of the relevant local council. A major retail shopping centre is defined as being a centre in South Australia (outside Adelaide CBD) with a total lettable area of 34,000m2 or more;
• provides that a fee can only be imposed where the relevant local Council has passed a resolution granting the approval; and
• mandates community consultation on whether the proposed imposition of a car parking fee is in the community interest.

If this Bill is passed (and the example is followed by other States outside South Australia), owners of major retail shopping centres will no longer be able to exercise their discretion in determining whether to charge car parking fees.

Community consultation will give a voice to unrelated third parties who use shopping centre parking where insufficient parking is available at nearby train stations, hospitals or local workspaces. Landowners will find that this Bill (if passed) will limit their ability to take effective steps to regulate access to car parks and to ensure that customers (as opposed to the unrelated third parties) have sufficient parking available to them when accessing the landowner’s centres.

“This decision will be an interesting outcome for landlords and parking operators not only in SA but nationally”

Daniel Hitchcock, Managing Director of First Parking.

 

For further information on how Arena Law can help you in any stage of your asset’s lifecycle, please contact our team on (07) 3999 7102.

Written by Sandra Hollingsworth.