Visiting Cottesloe is about to come at a higher price as paid parking is introduced across the town.

Councillors voted unanimously on Tuesday to adopt a new parking strategy to control how parking is managed over the next four years.

Hourly parking fees and metered parking zones will be introduced to Cottesloe village to improve parking turnover and reduce long-stay commuter congestion — and could flow-on to improved footfall for local business.

The triangular shopping area, east of Cottesloe train station, is bordered by Stirling Highway, Forrest St and Brixton Street and encompasses the Napolean Street boutique and café strip and the Boatshed Market.

Time restrictions will be also be considered at currently un-timed car parks along Brixton Street and Railway Street. The change could later be extended to nearby streets to manage over-spill parking.

Cottesloe council will allocate $150,000 in its 2026/27 budget to install new ticket machines throughout the town centre. It will budget a further $20,000 for software costs.

Town officers recommended revenue from paid parking be reinvested into the area it came from to fund infrastructure upgrades and amenity improvements.

Councillor Lorraine Young said it was important the town’s infrastructure was well planned to support a growing community.

“We all know that we have parking problems in Cottesloe and there is limited scope for new parking. If left uncontrolled, parking will have an increasing adverse impact on livability in Cottesloe,” she said.

“We need to be proactive to deal with the current challenges, as well as challenges that will be presented by an increasing population, including development.”

Cr Young said the town was operating with a “financial shortfall” in this area and needed to diversify its revenue streams.

“The strategy addresses the problems with overstaying and the inefficiencies inherent in that, as well as the amenity impact of increased parking demands on resident parking,” she said.

The proposed changes were sent out for community feedback in March. The council received 57 submissions addressing the topic of paid parking in the town centre to reduce the “regular congestion” on weekdays.

The public response was divided, with 28 supporting the idea and 29 opposing it. However, town planners noted no alternative measures were identified that could effectively reduce congestion while supporting economic activity.

“The strategy is very high level and there is inherent flexibility to finetune the details of each of the initiatives, and council will have the opportunity to oversee the finetuning to ensure that the community’s needs are met,” Cr Young said.

Community feedback also indicated strong opposition to paid parking at the beach, even though the new strategy did not propose changes to beach parking.

Under current State regulations, the town is prohibited from introducing paid parking west of Broome Street. Town planners recommended council push for these regulations to be removed to place Cottesloe on “similar footing to other coastal local governments.”

Deputy mayor Sonja Heath said she was looking forward to the “traffic congestion problems” in the town centre being managed under the new strategy.