Council bans trucks from night stops in Holbrook's main street

Greater Hume Council has voted to stop trucks parking along Albury Street, between Young and Macinnes streets, in the southern end of town, between the hours of 9pm and 7am.

Signage will be erected in the next two to three months and a trial will then be run for a year with police to enforce the no stopping zone.

The issue is tied to long-haul drivers changing trailers in the area, with the shire's director of engineering Greg Blackie telling councillors of numerous complaints from residents upset by noise and other fallout.

"In some instances, trucks are parked across driveways preventing access to properties by landowners when they want to leave or enter their property," he reported to councillors before their vote at this month's council meeting.

"Unfortunately, the residents when confronting the drivers about their trucks blocking access have been verbally abused on occasions by the drivers."

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Councillor Heather Wilton said residents had also been left with human faeces on their lawns with defecation and urinating occurring.

"It's been going on for a long time, years in fact, even before the bypass to be honest but it's become more prevalent and more often and people are over it," the Holbrook-based councillor said of the parking situation.

Greater Hume general manager Evelyn Arnold said if there was a drop in problems in the area the trial would likely become permanent, but if it failed to address the trouble other solutions may be considered although she described roadside cameras as a "last resort".

"We're not trying to discourage truck drivers from coming to town and having a meal, we're just trying to create that balance of harmony between residents who live on the main street and truck drivers," Mrs Arnold said.

The council is also planning to lobby the NSW government and its transport department for a long-term solution.

Mrs Arnold said there was a fuel station approved to open at the northern end of Holbrook close to the freeway access and that may draw trucks away from the southern area.

Other parts of Albury Street are considered to be largely commercial and there is long-bay parking near the submarine park.

Border trucking industry figure Doug McMillan said "the biggest problem in Holbrook is there's just not enough parking spaces".

He said that over the years the council had encouraged truck owner-operators to the town through cheap land for a shed and house and "you can't have your cake and eat it too".

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