14 hours ago
Council urges residents to dob in neighbours over growing caravan and boat issue
The battle for our streets is heating up with one major city council now urging locals to dob in residents for leaving trailers, caravans and boats on the side of the road for extended periods of time.
For months, Sydney's Northern Beaches Council has been grappling with the issue, launching a months long investigation last last year about how best to crack down on the practice, including the potential of introducing new parking signage and rules enforcing vehicle only areas.
Councillors say residents continue to complain about boats, caravans and trailers clogging up backstreets in their suburbs, prompting them to unanimously pass a new motion at a council meeting this month to address their concerns.
The council is also preparing a submission to the NSW state government and is asking it to review the current penalties and offences under the Road Rules 2014 and Road Transport Act 2013 to enable a new permit system "to further discourage boats and trailers being parked on residential streets".
The council also wants to implement a more formal system to encourage residents to report hotspots for "inappropriate parking of trailers, boats and caravans" such as creating a specific online form that would be promoted in a community newsletter and social media.
According to councillor Vincent De Luca, who introduced the latest motion at the council meeting, the issue has become a danger by impeding visibility for road users. "We see large craft, obstructing vision causing accidents," he told the meeting.
It's been an issue simmering in the community for some time. In 2023 a boat legally parked on the street was spray-painted with the words "f*** off", prompting the owner to respond with a note outlining their right to leave the boat there.
A Northern Beaches Council spokesperson recently told Yahoo News it is one of the most complained about issues it deals with, after receiving some 288 complaints last year. In response, more streets have been fitted with "No Parking - Motor Vehicles Excepted" signs – which initially confused some motorists when they were first rolled out.
Neighbouring councils have also struggled with the issue. Last year Randwick City Council announced it will ban parking for almost five kilometres along a busy nature strip that's become "increasingly popular for storage of boats, caravans and trailers".
Meanwhile in the nearby suburb of Cremorne, one resident (who doesn't have a garage and has to rely on street parking) has become so fed up she started a petition calling for stricter parking rules for non cars. "The road is there for people to use and not to store, and that is the distinction that needs to be made," she told Yahoo in February.
In NSW, and most other states and territories, it is legal for boats, trailers and caravans to be stationed on the street in the same spot for up to 28 days. After this, the owner will be notified and they need to be moved or risk a $660 fine.
The new location needs to be "at least as far as a different block section of the same street", according to guidelines.
The issue has been been exacerbated by the fact that caravan and campervan registrations across the nation have steadily grown over the part decade with more than 900,000 currently on our roads.
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