With the new Major Cycleways coming to Christchurch, a major trade-off in many locations will be the removal of on-street car-parking (either on one side or both) to provide enough space for separated bikeways. Already we are seeing some concerns being raised in both the Rapanui – Shag Rock and Papanui Parallel cycleway proposals about loss of parking.

Let’s be quite clear upfront. Nobody has an absolute right to any carparks on the street, whether they’re in front of your place or not. The Council’s District Plan (see Vol.3 Part 13) is very specific that any land use (whether it’s a home, business, or whatever) is expected to provide a certain number of parking spaces off-street (including often a number of bike parks). Generally it is only those pre-existing historical land uses that might avoid this or some businesses in certain shopping areas that pay cash-in-lieu to help fund…