The council’s draft budget for 2017-18 includes $80,000 for a “Foreshore Parking Strategy”.

“These funds will help Council scope and plan a draft strategy for the area from Austinmer to Port Kembla,” a council spokesman said.

“The strategy will aim to address the expected increase in demand for parking in the city’s foreshore areas, including the Blue Mile.”

While there have been rumours that parking meters would be installed at Stuart Park to increase the circulation of vehicles, the spokesman said the scope of the strategy had not yet been developed so there were no details available.

While the strategy is for the beachside areas along the entire Illawarra region, Wollongong Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery said the congestion around the Stuart Park area from the Novotel to The Lagoon was a crucial area that would be addressed.

“That’s one of the key areas where the issues are in as much that it is an attractive area,” Cr Bradbery said.

“It attracts a lot of requests for events and at the same time we’ve got to take into consideration the needs of the residents and the dynamics of the traffic flow.

“So it’s quite a significant pinch point.”

Cr Bradbery said the strategy would allow council to work out the best approach for the parking issue.

“The point is we’ve just got to look at the whole issue of parking and assessing the demands that are on the city, especially with visitors now that we have the huge population over the west of the water catchment area,” Cr Bradbery said.

“There are a lot of pressures on our city, especially around our beaches.”