A study of car parking in central Footscray found the project was too expensive for the council to fund and existing car parks could be better used to meet demand.

The report, tabled at Maribyrnong Council's meeting last week, looked at four car park sites for a multi-deck park: Irving, Paisley, Droop and Byron streets car parks.

A multi-deck car park at the preferred Byron Street site would cost at least $15million to build and based on figures from private operators would return at best about $750,000 a year.

A payback period of 25 years would be "too long to ensure the facility would be financially viable". There are almost 5000 council and private car parks in central Footscray and the study found that peak demand was for about 3500 spaces. That means that the number of car parks exceeds the number needed by about one-third, or 36per cent.

The free car parks at Forges and Footscray railway station are regularly full, with cars often illegally double-parked. But there are many empty spaces on the top level of the Footscray Market and at Footscray Plaza, although both are paid parking.

The car parks at Little Saigon shopping centre and Byron Street, both paid, do not have enough space to meet demand.

"Based on the current car parking supply in the Footscray CAD being likely to meet demand in the short to medium term, and the long payback period to cover construction costs of a new multi-deck car park, it is suggested the cost of the development of a new car park is not justified at this stage," the report stated.

Cr John Cumming said the council would look at ways to attract interest from developers. Meanwhile, electronic signage would be used to direct people to empty spaces in central Footscray.