Will Trailers in Streets Be a thing of the past?

Long-term boat trailers in Kenneth Road.

Abandoned boat trailers would be removed from Manly suburban streets under new laws expected to come into force next year.

State Roads Minister Duncan Gay last month announced that boat trailers could be parked in the same spot on local streets for a maximum of three months only. After that the trailers would be removed and impounded.

While the plan comes out of a Working Group focussed on Woollahra and Canada Bay council areas, the boat trailer problem resonates with Manly residents as well. 

"Boat trailers are a problem in the streets of Manly and while the Council has tried to limit where they can be parked by restricting parking hours, this has usually just moved the trailers to another street" said Good For Manly Cr Candy Bingham.

"With street parking so precious in our area locals resent trailers taking up valuable spaces.  They are ugly, and often don’t even belong to residents in the area,” she said. 

But the proposed law also recognises that Sydney is a boaties' paradise and gives space-poor boat owners a helping hand. 

Mr Gay said the State Government would invest $5 million to build dedicated off-street boat trailer parking facilities, partnering with interested councils and other businesses.

Other changes would include allowing councils to issue parking permits to residents for their boat trailers as part of a resident parking scheme. However, even trailers with council-issued permits could still be impounded if they hadn't been moved for three months. 

The proposed changes are set to be introduced next year, although the legislation may depend on a state Liberal re-election win.

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