State Coalition pledges to build $30m Frankston station car park
VICTORIAN Opposition Leader Matthew Guy has promised to build a multi-level car park at Frankston train station if the Coalition wins government at the 24 November state election.
The $30 million car park would have 450 additional spaces. Currently the station has a 416-space ground-level car park owned by Public Transport Victoria (PTV) on the eastern, Fletcher Road side of the station.
On weekdays it is full by 6.30am and train commuters are forced to park up to 500 metres away from the station and pay up to $13 a day. More than 3000 people are driven to the station or drive themselves every weekday. The existing PTV car park is free and the proposed multi-deck car park also will be free of charge to commuters.
One of Committee for Greater Frankston’s main advocacy priorities is to make parking in the city centre more accessible and user friendly. To help achieve this, the committee is asking the Victorian Labor government and the Coalition Opposition to:
- Change state planning schemes to recognise that more parking should be provided in outer suburban areas like Frankston than in areas better serviced by public transport in inner metropolitan Melbourne, like Richmond and South Melbourne.
- Extend the Frankston train line to Langwarrin/Baxter and provide a large car park at both locations. This should free-up parking presently taken by commuters in Frankston’s city centre for use by traders, workers, shoppers and visitors. This major infrastructure project requires both federal and state government funding. While the Liberal Party at both state and federal levels has promised funding, and the federal Labor Opposition has committed funding for the project, the Victorian Labor government has yet to do so.
The wider community including the council has been asking for more parking at Frankston station for more than four decades. A multi-deck car park was first mooted in 1975.
Committee for Greater Frankston chief executive Ginevra Hosking welcomed the multi-deck car park news: “This is a fantastic start. We need a strategy to create more car parking in Frankston’s CBD so the revival of the city can continue. Insufficient parking is now an economic problem not just one of convenience. “Across the board, traders, workers, businesses, shoppers and visitors are telling us that we won’t fix Frankston’s economy without fixing car parking.”
Media Coverage:
Channel 7 nightly news, 13 September, 11:20 mins
7 News exclusive: Michael Scanlan, Reporting
Herald Sun, $30 million carpark at Frankston station on Opposition Leader Matthew Guy’s election list, 13 September 2018
Tom Minear, Herald Sun
A MULTI-LEVEL carpark for 450 commuters will be built at Frankston station if the Coalition wins November’s state election.
The $30 million carpark, announced by Opposition Leader Matthew Guy, is the latest in a blitz of spending promises from both major parties targeted at the critical marginal seats in Melbourne’s southeast.
The Coalition has also vowed to electrify and duplicate the Frankston line to Baxter, improving services through the key growth corridor. “I have a plan for a new carpark at Frankston station and to electrify the train line to Baxter, while Daniel Andrews is talking about a $70 billion tunnel to Broadmeadows sometime after 2050,” Mr Guy said.
The Opposition has already unveiled plans for 1600 new car spaces at train stations across Melbourne, costing $42.6 million, and is expected to announce more new carparks to make it easier for outer-suburban residents to catch the train. Michael Lamb, the Liberal candidate in Frankston, said local residents had “time and time again” raised the lack of parking at Frankston station with him. “We’re going to fix that,” he said.
Frankston Standard, Fix for parking problems, Monday 17 September 2018, Page 5
Fix for parking problems
Coalition promises multistorey solution to Frankston’s dire CBD congestion
Kimberley Seedy
A $30 MILLION multistorey carpark will be built at Frankston station if the Coalition wins November’s state election.
The carpark will provide 450 spaces for both commuters and shoppers to use, which the Coalition claims will help relieve the pressure on parking around the Frankston CBD and local side roads.
The promise is the latest in a blitz of spending promises from both major parties targeted at the critical marginal seats in Melbourne’s southeast.
The Coalition has also vowed to electrify and duplicate the Frankston line to Baxter, improving services through the key growth corridor.
The Coalition said the redevelopment of Frankston station had been botched by Labor with a lack of carparkinging, bus lanes that were too narrow for buses to safely pass parked cars and long construction delays having a devastating impact on local traders.
Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said: “I have a plan for a new carpark at Frankston station and to electrify the train line to Baxter, while Daniel Andrews is talking about a $70 billion tunnel to Broadmeadows sometime after 2050.”
Frankston Liberal candidate Michael Lamb said after speaking to residents, the lack of parking at the station was frequently brought up. “We’re going to fix that,” Mr Lamb said.
The Leader has previously reported on chaotic scenes in the carpark as motorists battled to find parks. There were reports of people parking across driveways in Cranbourne Rd and readers told the Leader the lack of parking was driving business away.
Frankston Times, 17 September 2018, page 3
Brodie Cowburn
THE Victorian Liberals have pledged to spend over $30 million to build a multi-storey car park at Frankston train station if they win the November state election. Leader of the opposition Matthew Guy MP and Michael Lamb visited Frankston station to announce the election promise, which could provide 450 new carparks to commuters using the station. “I have a plan for a new car park at Frankston Station and to electrify the train line to Baxter, while Daniel Andrews is talking about a $70 billion tunnel to Broadmeadows sometime after 2050,” Mr Guy said. “The choice is clear, under the Liberals you’ll get a multi storey car park at Frankston station.”
Last week the Liberal government reaffirmed their commitment to electrify and duplicate the Frankston train line to Baxter. The new car park is planned to be free for commuters to use. A 22 January 2015 media release from the Premier’s office outlined the development of a “fast-tracked master plan” for Frankston station, which would include planning for “a new retail and café strip and multilevel car park”. Investment from the state government has not yet been used for a multi-level car park project. A proposal to ask Premier Daniel Andrews to “recommit to the position of a multi-level car park at Frankston railway station” was voted down at the 13 August Frankston council meeting.
“A Matthew Guy led government will get things done in Frankston,” said Liberal Frankston candidate Michael Lamb. “As I knock on doors and speak to residents in Frankston, time and time again the lack of parking at the station is brought up. We’re going to fix that.”
