Burnie City Council has made disabled parking free across the city for the foreseeable future.
The change took effect after the council’s October meeting and will only apply to designated disability zones.
The council say time limits will still apply in time-controlled parking spaces and disability permit holders will still need to pay for parking if they are not in a disabled space.
Permit holders using disability spaces in the city’s multi-storey carpark must exit before the ticket booth closes at 6:30pm to avoid being charged the exit fee.
The motion initiated by Councillor Ken Dorsey was centred around “helping the people that need it the most”, a policy he hopes to see other councils implement “statewide.”
Burnie Mayor Teeny Brumby opposed the proposal, as did Councillor Steve Kons, with both expressing concerns about the “ad-hoc” nature of the approach.
Kons stated that the council frequently discusses parking reviews and believes it should be tackled “holistically” to resolve it “for once and for all”.
“You can’t give something away and then take it back,” Kons said.
Mayor Brumby acknowledged that parking is a “complicated” issue and said that “as a Council, we’ve committed to looking deeply into that issue next year”.
“So it is absolutely on our radar to do a therapeutic look, deep dive into the parking situation for Burnie and how we can ensure that there is a better outcome for our residents,” Brumby said.
