Caravan owners facing tougher rules over parking on suburban streets

Caravan owners in Queensland have been put on notice today, with the Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast councils calling for a crackdown on street parking.

The councils will present a motion at this week's Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ) conference, calling for a shake-up in rules about where the vehicles can be stored.

Sunshine Coast was spurred into taking action by complaints from more than 700 residents over congestion on suburban streets.

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"This is about residents complaining about caravans, trailers, boats parked on their streets and it's a safety issue," Mayor Rosanna Natoli said.

"It reduces available parking and as well as that, it makes the suburbs look ugly."

Some caravans on the Sunshine Coast were parked on residential streets for months, or even years, without being moved, she said.

Currently in Queensland, caravans can be parked on a street indefinitely if the vehicle has a length limit of 7.5 metres and weighs no more than 4.5 tonnes.

Any changes would require action by the state government, and the two councils are hoping other local authorities will back them.

"We're asking other councils across the state to support us, ask the state government to help us, because at the moment these vehicles are registered and so they can't be treated differently to normal cars," Natoli said.

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