NSW Regarding resident parking permits for trailers

[Maxum Maximus]

I'm a resident of Ryde Council in Sydney and wish to park my boat trailer on the street where I live.

It seemed like a reasonable request: there's never any parking congestion - enough parking for everyone! And yes, me the car, the boat the trailer are rightfully registered and licenses and registered at the address!

Ryde Council has responded;
Council has decided not to issue permits to boat trailer according to RMS Permit Parking Guidelines. Council has clarified this matter with RMS. According to RMS ‘Amendment to the Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) Residential Parking Permit Guidelines give Councils discretion to issue parking permits to boat trailers as part of a local approach to manage parking. Accordingly City of Ryde Council can choose to issue a permit to boat trailer, or not, within its discretion’.

Yeah.. but:
- Additional legislation/policy addresses an actual problem: No
- Evidence based legislation: No.
- Public consultation and consideration: No
- Public awareness and education campaigns precede enforcement and punishment: No

Since the formation of modern Australia Sydney Harbour has been a maritime city. Indeed, one of the most beautiful and well known Harbour Cities of the world. My family has been sailing and boating on Sydney Harbour for 4 generations.

What are my options to reverse these mindless, arbitrary and poorly thought through local government policies?

 

[Rob Legat - SBPL]

Sounds like it’s a general stance they’ve taken, not an individual one. I think you’d need overwhelming public support to get them to possibly chance their mind.

Of course, there’s also the overarching aspects of public policy to consider. Your individual use might not be an issue, but there may be quite a few people wanting to do what you’re doing - which may present a problem in aggregate. For example: It could be safety issues, or general aesthetic - both of which could be caused by large boats obscuring sight lines.

 

[Maxum Maximus]

Thanks @Rob Legat - SBPL

In this instance I think it is officious public servants creating excessive legislation and red tape without evidence or public consultation. This video evidences the situation.

Yes, I think that media and political pressure will be required to reverse this council maladministration.

Thanks again.

 

[Maxum Maximus]

More on this matter some 3 months later...

Talking to one Ryde Council Ranger;
1) She said that Ryde Council is required by law to follow RMS Permit Parking Guidelines and that under those guidelines boat trailers are ineligable for Resident Parking Permits
2) I asked her to direct me to the specific clauses in the guidelines... as my reading of the guidelines came to a different conclusion.
3) On reading the RMS Permit Parking Guidelines with me she was shocked to see that boat trailer ARE in fact stipulated as eligible for Resident Parking Permits. After some awkward moments and discussion she agreed that council had likely made a mistake in their reading of the guidelines... and that their website and processes would need to be corrected.
4) I said that I would resubmit my application for a Resident Parking Permit for my boat trailer. (Subsequently my application was rejected for a second time.)

Her boss called me, Manager of Ranger Services, next day to advise that this Ryde Council Ranger was mistaken, that Ryde did indeed have a policy to disallow boat trailers from being issued Resident Parking Permit. I asked for details of that policy, the community consultation and law/policy making processes. She referred me to the Traffic Manager. I wrote the Traffic Manager to get details on the due process they (must have) followed to arrive at this "no resident parking permits for boat trailers" policy. No response. Chasing it up 2 months later - it turns out the previous Traffic Manager had left the role so I went through the whole email chain again with the new Traffic Manager. Another month later - still no reply.

Despite the Manager of Ranger Services agreeing to not issue infringements until the matter was resolved... and cancelling one infringement - they have recently issued a parking infringement :-(

In NSW Local Councils are allowed to diverge in some areas from Roads and Maritime Service (RMS) Permit Parking Guidelines (26 October 2018) - https://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/business...ocuments/technical-manuals/permit-parking.pdf.

Surely local councils must follow some due process to do this!? Ideally with community consultation.

The meeting minutes from the Traffic Committee (advisory) and Works and Community Committee (law/policy making) do not show any mention of a policy diverging from then RMS Permit Parking Guidelines. Search Results. In fact the only mentions in the minutes reiterate that Ryde Council is required by law to adhere to the RMS Permit Parking Guidelines.

I am starting to think that the first Ranger was correct - and that Ryde Council has made an error in their reading of the RMS Permit Parking Guidelines.

For next steps I'm considering;
a) Contacting the NSW Office of Local Government (OLG)... though I have found them quiet unhelpful before when questioning Local Government policy and practices
b) NSW Ombudsman

Thoughts/suggestions please...