Parking permit U turn for Balmain teachers

The Inner West Council has caved to public pressure following its controversial decision to remove parking permits from teachers at Balmain Public School.
Last month, the recently amalgamated Inner West Council advised Balmain Public School that their allocated parking permits would be reduced from 18 to six. Concerned teachers mobilised quickly and contacted the State Member for Parliament, Jamie Parker, who liaised with the school, it’s Parents and Citizens Association and lobbied the Inner West Council to overturn the decision. Fiona Byrne, Senior Electoral Officer at Balmain state electorate said that it’s a good example of the “community getting behind the teachers who are educating their kids.”

The permits allow teachers to park for free in timed and metered zones. Robert Bennett, President of the school’s Parents and Citizens Association, had concerns that teaching staff at the school would be seriously disadvantaged by changes to their parking arrangements. Were the proposed changes to be enacted it would have created “unnecessary distraction from their primary task – that of teaching our children,” Mr Bennet said.

The Inner West Council implied that the proposed reduction of permits was an administrative error. The council website indicates challenges to processing parking permits. “Council is experiencing high volumes of (parking permit) applications and as a result there are expected delays in the processing and distribution of your approved parking permit(s). Council’s 2014 to 2016 parking permits are due to expire on 30 April 2016 but will remain valid until 31 August 2016,” it advises.

The Balmain State School P&C President, Robert Bennett, said he is very happy with the response provided by Richard Pearson, the Administrator of the Inner West Council in “getting the right result for our teaching staff.”

“At the end of the day it appears that common sense prevailed and as a result the teaching staff can now concentrate on what they do best – educating our children,” he said.

Jamie Parker, State MP, also expressed satisfaction for the resolution yet expressed concerns about the Council’s accountability and ability to engage with its constituents. “There is no question at all that this is a result of amalgamation,” Mr Parker said, “Usually, with this sort of thing, you’d ring your local councilor and they would get it fixed. But this amalgamated, unelected council has run roughshod over the community. The council doesn’t stand up for people who didn’t elect them.”

Council officers now intend to collaborate with the school on ways to reduce parking demand in the future and that no parking permits would be retracted for the time being.