At the last council meeting it was resolved to accept the Queanbeyan Carparking Plan, now called the Queanbeyan CBD Carparking Strategy 2018-2028.

The report was compiled by council staff and is intended to address current and forseeable issues with CBD parking.

The report will be released in the coming months once the review of the CBD Masterplan is complete so both documents can be publicly exhibited along with the transport strategy.

Discussion of the car parking plan at the meeting led to one of the more heated conversations of the still fledgling council.

Mayor Tim Overall moved a motion that would, among a series of changes, remove the Queanbeyan Showground and old nursery from consideration as car parking locations.

Cr Overall said any proposal including the showground would garner significant opposition from the community as users did not want to see a portion of the land sealed and marked for car parking.

The old nursery site was considered by the Queanbeyan City Council as a location for a cinema and Cr Overall said the site should be left in case any proposals for a cinema on the site were received.

Councillors Brian Brown and Kenrick Winchester were highly critical of the motion, suggesting it was not in the public’s interest to leave the two sites out of consideration.

“I don’t think it’s a good enough reason to not put something in a draft document that’s going to go on exhibition to the public just because some people might kick up about it,” Cr Brown said.

“The whole point of putting these things out to the public is to discuss these issues.”

Cr Winchester told the council a previous report on cinema locations suggested the nursery site was one of the least suitable.

He added a car park at the showground could provide valuable relief to traffic on Cooma Street at pick up and drop off times for St Gregory’s and Harris Park Preschool.

Cr Overall described Cr Winchester’s comments regarding the nursery site as “nonsense” .

Former Palerang mayor Pete Harrison said considering the document was a strategic plan with no obligation for work to follow, there seemed no reason for the two sites to be removed from consideration.

The motion was passed with eight votes.

Car parking will likely remain a controversial issue within Queanbeyan as various plans progress such as the underground car parking to be implemented if the new council building moves ahead.