At Thursday’s City of Launceston council meeting mayor Albert van Zetten moved a motion to investigate a 60-90 minute free parking option. 

The free parking would be offered in the council’s multi-storey car parks. 

The motion asked the council’s general manager Michael Stretton to complete and provide an evidence-based report about the proposal. 

Alderman van Zetten moved the motion after being constantly approached at events over the last few months. 

“A number of retailers are happy to see us reconsider,” he said.

While he said this issue would not fix all of the city’s issues, he said it was worth investigating. 

“We do offer quite a bit of free parking now. But there are lots of opportunities for us to do this better,” Alderman van Zetten said. 

Alderman Andrea Dawkins said it was important to remember Launceston has the ninth highest postcode for online shopping in the whole nation, so while having free parking might help a little, it would not fix all of the problems. 

“Habits have completely changed and they’re never going back,” she said. 

Alderman Rob Soward congratulated Alderman van Zetten on bringing the motion forward. 

“We always hear people say ‘I’d come into the city if it wasn’t for the cost of parking’, so having this evidence-based report will help support that,” he said. 

The council currently offers some free parking in its car parks between 3.30pm and 5.30pm.