A petition signed by more than 3444 central city customers calling for free parking in the city will be ignored by Tauranga City Council because it is 'skewed” councillors were told.

Free parking advocate and central city retailer Bill Campbell organised two petitions in March seeking feedback from businesses and customers on parking in the CBD.

Tauranga retailer Bill Campbell's city parking petition has been ignored by Tauranga City Council.

Tauranga retailer Bill Campbell's city parking petition has been ignored by Tauranga City Council.

The petitions sought signatures based on two questions relating to free parking in the city.

It asked building owners and managers whether they believe ‘free monitored parking with reasonable time limits would encourage more people into the CBD?' The petition received 312 replies – 292 agreed, while 20 disagreed.

A second question was put to the public calling at central city shops and businesses asking ‘would free monitored parking with time limits encourage you to visit the CBD more often?'

After three weeks 3444 people agreed and 35 disagreed, says Bill.

'There was no advertising, it sat on counters or tables of businesses and people saw it, read it, filled it out,” says Bill.

Bill submitted the petitions to council at this week's draft annual plan hearings. It was also discussed at Thursday's city council meeting where council voted 6-3 to pass the CBD's latest colour coded parking regime.

Parking time limits will be abolished allowing people to park anywhere in the city as long as they pay the going rate in the Green, Blue and Yellow zones - $3, $2 and $1 an hour.

Councillor Murray Guy questioned why Bill's petition is being disregarded as it showed a clear endorsement of free parking, when council's consultation with Mainstreet appeared to involve a 'breakfast with half a dozen people”.

City transportation manager Martin Parkes says the results of Bill's petition are skewed because it really depends on how you write your questions.

Councillor Larry Baldock also said if you ask people if they want to pay more rates to have a free park you might get a different answer.

Bill says today that is a pretty weak excuse.

'They had a chance to say yes or no, and a lot did say no. But never mind we will just have to continue.”

People will no longer have to seek out a parking space with a time limit that suits their need, instead they can decide where to park based on how much they are prepared to pay, says Martin.

The new parking regime will create more trouble than it's worth, says Bill.

'People are not going to put in more money than they have to, then they are going to think they have got a couple of hours. They are going to be issuing tickets left right and centre.

'Our survey proves the cost of parking is the issue, not the time limits. I don't know where they get that.”

The amendments to the 2012 Traffic and Parking Bylaw removes parking time restrictions in the three city zones, and altering pay and display zones.

The discussion moved on to comparing Tauranga with Rotorua where free parking is being subsidised by ratepayers at the cost of $2.4 million.

Tauranga's carparking income was $608,949 in 2010/11, and is expected to increase by $132,000 under the new regime. The income is being used to pay off the parking buildings, said to owe the city $4.9 million.