Why is it, ask shoppers, that we have to pay to park in the CBD but don’t have to pay to park in other parts of the city? 

It’s a fair question and the answer — that the city council makes a fair bit of money each year out of its meters and parking fines — is not one the customers or the traders particularly like to hear.

Councillor Brian Kelson has been banging the parking drum since he gained office in the last council elections but doesn’t seem to be gaining any traction.

Cr Kelson argues that the city should at least be trialling a free parking model at Warrnambool’s off-street car parks for pre-Christmas and summer holidays in a bid to attract visitors and customers to CBD businesses.

Some fellow councillors are understandably nervous about such a move because of the loss of revenue to council coffers, but that doesn’t solve the problem either.

Warrnambool is in the process of trying to revitalise its city centre at present and has done a tremendous amount of work in this area while consulting widely with the community.

One of the issues raised consistently in the community consultation process was parking.

At Monday’s night meeting somebody made the point that until the parking “issue’’ was fixed there was not much to be gained from any revitalisation plan. 

While this is not entirely correct, there is some truth in it nonetheless.

It is an ongoing annoyance for traders and shoppers alike that parts of the city are free while others are not.

Although there is no simple fix to the issue it is incumbent on council to include a parking review in any major changes for the CBD.

Cr Kelson is on the right track with his trial period proposal because how else will we know what the impact of free parking could have on the CBD unless we try it?