Compassionate Parking Enforcement and Safer Access for Nambucca Valley’s Elderly and Disabled Residents

To Nambucca Valley Council

Our community is asking Nambucca Valley Council to review the way parking regulations are being enforced and to urgently consider whether our town centres adequately meet the needs of elderly, disabled and mobility impaired residents.

This petition began after a recent incident outside a medical practice in Nambucca Heads.

A gentleman was collecting two elderly people, aged 92 and 96, both using walkers. He stopped in a taxi rank while assisting them from the medical practice and into his vehicle. There were no taxis occupying the rank at the time.

Witnesses have since stated that the circumstances were visible to the parking ranger and that the gentleman was issued an infringement while assisting them.

The discussion that followed within our community revealed that this was not an isolated concern.

Residents have shared experiences involving elderly people being assisted into businesses, a person being helped into a vehicle after becoming unwell outside a chemist, disability permit holders receiving infringements over technical issues with the way permits were displayed, and carers struggling to safely collect or drop off people with limited mobility.

These experiences raise a much broader question.

Are our parking arrangements and enforcement practices appropriate for the community we actually live in?

Nambucca Valley has a significant elderly population.

For many older residents, getting from a vehicle to a doctor's surgery, chemist, hairdresser, bank or shop is not a simple matter.

Some use walkers.

Some use wheelchairs.

Some require another person to physically support them.

Some cannot safely walk from the nearest available parking space.

Families and carers may occasionally need to stop very close to an entrance while helping someone safely into or out of a vehicle.

Many of us who have cared for elderly parents understand this reality personally.

Parking regulations are important and nobody is asking Council to abandon them.

We are asking for reasonable discretion, proportionality, compassion and common sense when the circumstances warrant it.

Council's own enforcement framework recognises that individual circumstances and discretion can form part of enforcement decisions.

We therefore ask Nambucca Valley Council to take the following action:

Review current parking enforcement practices involving elderly, disabled and mobility impaired residents.
Ensure parking officers are supported and trained to exercise appropriate discretion where circumstances involve vulnerability, disability, medical situations or genuine assistance being provided.
Review accessible parking throughout Nambucca Heads and other town centres, particularly around doctors, pharmacies, medical services and essential businesses.
Investigate the introduction of short term passenger drop off and pick up zones where family members and carers can safely assist elderly or mobility impaired passengers.
Review the accessibility of footpaths, gutters, crossings and access points for people using walkers, wheelchairs and other mobility aids.
Consider warnings or cautions where appropriate, particularly for minor or technical breaches where there is no deliberate misuse of parking facilities.
Consult directly with elderly residents, people living with disability, carers, local businesses and community organisations when reviewing these arrangements.
Provide the community with a public response explaining what steps Council intends to take following this review.
This petition is not about attacking individual Council employees.

It is about asking Council to look at the bigger picture.

Our parking system should protect access and safety while also recognising that human circumstances are not always black and white.

An elderly person using a walker should not become an enforcement problem simply because the person caring for them needs a few minutes to get them safely into a vehicle.

A person experiencing a medical difficulty should not become secondary to a parking line or sign.

A carer should not have to choose between safely helping someone and worrying about whether they will return to an infringement notice.

Accessibility does not begin at the front door of a building.

It begins with being able to reach that door safely.

We respectfully ask Nambucca Valley Council to listen to the experiences being shared by its community and work with us toward a parking and accessibility system that combines sensible enforcement with compassion, discretion and dignity.

Please sign this petition if you believe our elderly, disabled and mobility impaired residents deserve parking and access arrangements that reflect their real needs.