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The environmental threat posed by parking
16 September 2006
Parking is a problem in most universities and as this University continues to grow, parking is a looming threat to the environmental integrity of this beautiful campus.
The latest and most obvious indication of a lack of sensitivity is the large scale parking of vehicles on the area designated in the master plan, and clearly signposted as a ‘wildlife sanctuary’ at the front of the campus. On busy days nearly a third of this area can be occupied by vehicles parked illegally, yet there are alternative spaces within 400 metres at the Innovation Centre or in the Sports Precinct.
Not only are the grounds, swales, and verges being damaged, but some drivers simply manoeuvre through mobs of kangaroos resting in that front area. The kangaroos are temporarily frightened away, but if this parking were to persist, there would eventually be no kangaroos there. That is not something, of course, that most of us want to contemplate. Kangaroo kill is a bigger problem on the unfenced Sunshine Motorway and connecting roads where 20 have been killed recently.
This week we are having to erect barriers to protect the University ‘wildlife sanctuary’ and prevent illegal parking. If people want to use cars they must be prepared to walk further.
We continue to negotiate to improve public transport and hasten the bus interchange, but in the meantime there will need to be parking in the relatively generous spaces, compared with other universities, that we have made available.
The more people park in a variety of illegal ways to avoid longer walks, the more likely we will have to move toward stricter parking arrangements and fines that are evident on the campuses of most universities worldwide.
I do hope a more responsible approach to parking is taken seriously so we can avoid the stricter measures or paid parking as long as possible.
Professor Paul Thomas is Vice-Chancellor of University of the Sunshine Coast