Redlands City Council (RCC) is considering altering the parking restrictions at Wellington Point to allow cars without trailers to park in a small proportion of the CTU bays (CTU=Car Trailer Unit) at certain times. This could improve accessibility greatly for kiters and poleys (aka windsurfers) on the fantastic days we have ahead of us with an El Nino summer coming!

Currently a vehicle without a boat trailer can be fined if it is in a CTU. RCC has been presented with arguments to the effect that there is insufficient parking space and that this could be alleviated, at least to some extent, by allowing non boaties to use CTUs in the afternoon. The rationale, which is well supported by evidence from local wind monitoring stations and seems like common sense, is that most boaties have launched by midday so there is limited need for clear CTUs after that.

Many boaties are strongly opposed to such shared use. This is understandable if such users of the reserve believe that the proposed change would reduce their access. It seems quite probable that such belief would be misguided – that is, if
a) only a proportion of CTUs are for shared use
b) the shared use CTUs are only available for non boaties after a specified time (eg 1pm)
c) most boaties go out in the morning,
d) Council effectively enforces the rules
then there is a very low probability that any boatie who would previously have been able to get a park when required would not be able to do so under the proposed arrangement. On the other hand, this approach would provide quite a few more parks for non-boaties in the afternoon, particularly if people (eg kiting buddies) agreed to park tandem in a CTU.

RCC has decided to run a trial, with perhaps 11 CTUs, of the shared use approach. I will post here when more details are available. In the meantime, I'd suggest
i) Be aware that you are perhaps more likely to be fined now than previously if you park, without a trailer, in a CTU (RCC enforcement has not been too strict)
ii) Read the parking signage carefully (the ones that are likely to be changed are those near the toilet block)
iii) Write to council ([email protected]) if you are in favour of the proposal
iv) Do not inflame the situation, which has seen some aggression from different parties – the problem is amenable to solution through cool, rational discussion.