Parking Management Plans

We're creating plans to better manage parking in areas of the city where demand is consistently high.

We've identified four parts of the city that experience the greatest pressure on parking, all for different reasons:

• City centre
• Palmerston North Regional Hospital
• City centre east
• City centre west

To help ensure parking is available when and where people need it, we’re developing Parking Management Plans for each of these areas, starting with the area around the Hospital.

We have chosen to start with the hospital because they are looking at the future of the site and how it needs to change to meet current and future needs. This provides us with a good opportunity to ensure that the recommendations made by the parking plan connect well with the plans for the hospital.

Parking Management Plans will include tailored strategies for specific areas

The plans are location-specific and designed to manage parking across the four areas that experience consistent parking demand. These plans use data to assess current and future needs, and recommend ways to better manage parking.

Each plan will include:

• An overview of how much parking is available (public and private)
• Data on how that parking is being used
• A summary of local transport connections and land use
• Future changes that might affect parking demand
• Recommendations for short, medium and long-term improvements

While the plans consider both private and public parking, management recommendations will focus on public parking only.

These plans will help to improve parking availability

In high-demand areas, it's important to encourage vehicle turnover — especially near shops, services and busy workplaces such as the hospital. The goal is to maintain about 85 percent occupancy at peak times. That helps keep parking accessible, while making the best use of our existing space.

We’ll explore a range of tools as part of each plan, including:

• Time restrictions
• Pricing
• Parking meters
• Smart technology

We’ll evaluate the pros and cons of each tool based on the area's needs — and ask what you think before any decisions are made.

We’ll seek feedback during the development of each plan

We’ll consult the community on each plan. That includes residents, businesses, retailers, and anyone with an interest in how parking is managed in their area. Your feedback will help shape each plan as it’s developed.

Next steps

We’re starting with a Parking Management Plan for the area around Palmerston North Regional Hospital. After that, we’ll work through the other high-demand areas.

We’re also currently working on implementing a range of actions across the wider city as part of our Parking Action Plan 2025-2030. These will have short, medium and long term interventions.

Read more about the proposed Parking Action Plan