Rotorua Lakes Council is required under Local Government Act 2002 and Transport Act 1962 to manage and ensure parking compliance.

To ensure there are appropriate levels of parking spaces to:

  • support local businesses and retailers
  • support a vibrant CBD by ensuring people can get to where they want to go
  • provide access to different user groups
  • plays a part in community safety – usable layout, close enough to where people want to go, a busy city centre, reduced vehicle movements
  • plays a part in sustainability – reducing vehicle travel times

No one likes to pay for parking, but having a well-functioning parking system is an important part of supporting our local economy and keeping access fair for everyone visiting the inner-city to work, visit shops and carry out their daily business.

Someone needs to pay to manage that parking system (wardens, technology, administration etc), and it is only fair that everyone using the service should pay for it. Otherwise, the cost would fall to ratepayers or businesses.

It’s not about raising revenue; it’s about being able to manage the service so that it works as well as possible for all users.

Parking fees pay for the service itself – on street assets, staff, technology, administration and anything above that is reinvested into the upkeep and improvement of the CBD. That investment helps to make the inner-city an attractive place to visit for people choosing to shop locally.

The Policy and Guidelines set out how parking will be managed in Rotorua to ensure there is the right amount of spaces, in the right locations and the right price. The Policy also sets the guiding principles for decision making. The purpose of the Guidelines is to support the Policy by providing detailed guidance on how Council will give effect to the Policy principles.

The main purpose of a traffic bylaw is to manage and regulate traffic flow, ensure public safety and promote efficient use of roads and parking facilities. The Traffic Bylaw also gives effect to the Policy and Guidelines by enabling enforcement actions.

We recognise that this consultation overlaps with the summer break, so we’ve extended the timeframe and made it easy to participate online at any time. We are working to have all parking changes in place by 1 July and this consultation timeline aligns with deadlines for implementation.

The final cost for parking services won’t be known until parking system changes are finalised. We are making the service more efficient, providing additional ways to pay and looking at options for inner-city workers. Once we know final costs, we will be able to review parking fees to ensure the service can support itself.

This means that council will use a mix of in-house customer facing staff and product suppliers to deliver parking for Rotorua. In-house services will include:

  • parking wardens and related staff
  • RLC will manage customer services – enquiries, complaints, disputes etc
  • Financial control
  • Policy and enforcement

Product suppliers will include:

  • Infrastructure and technology (hardware (e.g. parking machines and software e.g. apps etc)

Yes, we will need to review the fee structure (what you pay to park) to ensure financial viability of the service going forward. No decisions about fee changes have been made. Any changes will support the required occupation levels (how many parking spaces are available) but we are proposing options to support people needing to stay in town longer for work such as cheaper parking in the parking building and worker permits.

Please note that infringement fees (fines) are set by central government, not council. You can read more about government changes to fines here

Through the mixed-model service delivery all enforcement will return in-house. Council will employ parking wardens carry out enforcement on the street and the licence plate reading scan car will be used to supplement that service. A parking team will be set up and will work out of the Inner-City Community Hub. All parking queries including disputes and payments will be directed to the parking team here at council.

This building will be getting a refresh in the new year and will be the cheapest option for long-stay parking for inner-city workers.