As a Smart Little City, we need to make sure that we can change as the needs of Nelsonians change. More people are using active modes of transport than ever before. However, we need to make sure we are catering appropriately for the demands of parking. This is especially important in and around the City Centre, Stoke and Tahunanui.

We are developing a parking strategy, to provide a framework for how we make our decisions. This helps us to maintain consistency and equity as we try and balance the competing needs for allocating road space.

A Zoom webinar was held on Wednesday 20 April 2022. You can watch a video of the session here.


The report on the Parking Strategy went to the 4 August 2022 Infrastructure Committee. The agenda, including finalised Parking Strategy and Parking Management Plans can be read here.

The strategy was approved to go to Council for adoption.

Project updates

Updates on developing the Parking Strategy

A parking strategy will help to:

  • Establish the objectives, identifying what we want to achieve from the strategy
  • Outline guiding principles about how we make parking decisions
  • Create a road space hierarchy - what is the most important use of the road space?
  • Identify how parking will be managed
  • Consider other types of parking needs (e.g. Electic Vehicles, Car share etc.)

There are a number of key reasons for managing parking through a strategy. This includes:

  • Providing access for a range of users to our city's business and retail centres, especially for those with the greatest needs.
  • Managing demand and supporting turnover of vehicles
  • Managing safety relating to parking