Willoughby Council has endorsed new powers relating to boat trailer parking throughout Willoughby City Council. The new regulations are designed to discourage the nuisance caused by the long term parking of unattended registered boat trailers on public roads, often caused by people who do not live in the local area.
This follows overwhelming support from the local community for the new restrictions (82.8 per cent of survey participants), during community consultation. The new powers also aim to encourage off-street storage of boat trailers to free up on-street parking spaces for local residents.
The new legislation (following recent amendments to The Impounding Act, 1993) relates only to registered boat trailers, with registered box trailers and caravans excluded. The changes enable councils to implement tighter management arrangements in relation to registered boat trailers that may otherwise be parking lawfully on public roads.
Under the new powers, nuisance boat trailers may be required to move at least every 28 
days, and must move at least one street block. If the boat trailer does not move, Council must provide the registered owner with 15 days’ notice before impounding the trailer and also has the option of establishing a charge for the release of an impounded item.
Over the last 12 months Council received 30 complaints about boat trailer parking.
“The new restrictions have overwhelming community support and sit well alongside Council’s overall Street Parking Strategy which aims to manage demand for, and increase street parking capacity across the Willoughby area,” said Willoughby Mayor Gail Giles-Gidney.
Chatswood West Ward History 
The NPA consulted the community, during the period 12-Feb to 17-Feb, to ascertain opinion. Results of the survey found:
* We received a total of 123 responses to our survey
* 76% (94) expressed an opinion that unattended boats on trailers should not be allowed to remain parked on suburban streets.
* Of these, 65% (61) supported the view that unattended boats on trailers should be parked within the owner’s property whilst 27% (25) felt that boat trailers should be parked within a Council or other locally provided and designated boat trailer parking area.
Based on the community feedback received, we consider the Act, as supported by Council on Monday night – deficient in –
* its ability to bring about an improvement in the control of Trailer parking in our streets.
* its control of the danger associated with wide trailers being parked in narrow streets;
* its control of unattended trailers (in general) being parked in residential areas not associated with the owner of the vehicle, thereby restricting other residents to park outside their own home.
Permission for a trailer to be parked for 28 days plus 15 days’ notice – is impractical to enforce.
Street parking in our residential area, as outlined by previous Willoughby Council reports, is a premium commodity. Whilst we support the growth in recreational activities and boat ownership – we question whether the government has given proper considered evaluation to this legislative control. We request Council to seriously explore opportunities available for the provision of off-street parking alternatives for all types of trailers. At the very least, we seek provision for parking permits for Trailer owners to ensure they are stored in proximity to the owner’s residence.
Blind acceptance that the endorsement will solve the problem – is far from reality. Council Rangers acknowledge that they can not enforce the Legislation – they don’t have the manpower.
For now – we support Council’s endorsement of declaring the whole of the City of Willoughby Local Government area to be a “Declared Area” for the purposes of legislation associated with the control of “Trailer” parking on our public streets BUT we question the adequacy of the current legislation and so seek Councils proactive support in addressing this issue with the State Government.
It appears that the writer is seeking to broaden the application to apply to all types of trailers including box trailers and caravans yet no evidence is provided to support such a move.