A parking expert has weighed in on a bid which could potentially increase the size of parking spaces as sales for newer, larger vehicles boom across Australia.
Standards Australia is seeking public comment on a draft proposal to extend the length of off-street car parks in response to an influx of dual cab utes and US-style pick-up trucks on Australian roads.
The review would aim to expand off-street parking bays, which include private and public parking lots, from 5.4 metres to 5.6 metres to accommodate the vehicles.
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But Neale McCracken, a principal consultant for Stantec in Melbourne, has argued against the proposed changes.
"If you've bought these large trucks you're not really going to expect to park it conveniently in Australia," he told 9news.com.au.
"You need to expect you're trying to park a six-metre truck in a 5.4-metre space.
"They know that their vehicle is big, they know that it's going to be hard to park."
McCracken leads a consulting firm that assesses the impact of development and infrastructure on the transport system.
He said changing the national design standard to make parking spaces bigger was a solution to a non-existent problem.
"The analysis done just looks back at the overall Australian car fleet and says, 'This is the biggest car we've got and this is the space they need'," he said.
"They're not really considering anything beyond that and why people are buying those cars.
"If you look at it geographically, those living in regional areas would probably need a 4WD to accommodate, but why are you applying the same standard to urban areas?
"We don't need to provide 100 per cent of parking to all but one 1 per cent of vehicles using them."
McCracken said popular vehicles sold in Australia such as Ford Rangers and Toyota Hiluxes had no problem fitting into bays at places like supermarket parking lots.
"They can park – but the car just sticks out of the space a bit," he said.
The national dimension requirements for on-street and off-street parking spaces are set by Standards Australia, currently 2.4m by 5.4m.
The standards organisation uses a generic design vehicle to determine the sizing and manoeuvrability of a car park.
As part of the review, it found the dimensions of design vehicles had changed over the last 18 years, prompting a proposal to expand parking bays.
But McCracken said what sounded like a minor change could have knock-on effects for development, planning and affordability.
"If your parking spaces suddenly get bigger then either you've got to do two things - reduce the number of spaces you've provided or increase the size of your car park," he said.
"If you're making it bigger you're basically increasing the amount of money people are paying to access these car parks, and increasing costs for those who rent office spaces and apartments above them.
"Another possibility is less parking might be built, forcing the choice on the people who would otherwise need car access to opt-out.
"It also ties up developers arguing over the planning process.
"By adding more red tape for developers, there becomes a longer wait for development approvals."
Standards Australia is accepting public comment on the draft proposal until November 9, with the sizing increase set to be finalised in about six months.
