The Sunday Times
Oliver Lane
Motorists could soon find themselves with a little extra space in one of the most frustrating places — carparks.
Officials are mulling an increase to the standard size of Australia’s off-road car spaces, but planners and property groups warn it could increase costs and say parking already takes up too much space.
Standards Australia has been considering whether to increase their length from 5.4m to 5.6m as the nation’s average car size balloons. The last adjustment to car space sizes was in 2004.
First announced in October 2023, a decision was initially slated to be made by April last year, then mid-this year, but has now been earmarked for the end of the year.
“When we last reviewed the standard, about 13 per cent of our national vehicle fleet was an SUV. It’s now about 40 per cent,” Standards Australia chief executive Adam Stingemore said at the time. “As our cars have changed, we also need to consider our carparks.”
While standards are usually voluntary, they are generally adopted by local governments in planning schemes and policies, which are then enforced when considering application approvals.
Some areas of Australia are trying their own ways to accommodate bigger cars. The South Australian Government in January proposed increasing the minimum size of home garages to combat large cars being parked on roads.
Urban Development Institute of Australia WA chief executive Tanya Steinbeck said longer car spaces would increase costs.
“By requiring larger car parking bays, this is simply adding another considerable cost, due to the additional space required for car parking that will reduce available space for other amenities,” she said.
“We may even see the need for an extra level of parking to accommodate the extra space requirements, which would come at a huge cost.”
Planning Institute Australia WA state president Cameron Leckey added car parking already took up too much room. “We’re not convinced bigger car bays will make our streets safer,” he said.