Car-Parking Costs To Be Cut In Kirkcaldy Town Centre

In a scheme being piloted for six months, half price season tickets will be on offer as well as reductions in short and long term parking fees.

Kirkcaldy 4 All, the town centre Business Improvement District company, is working in collaboration with Fife Council to promote a 6 month trial of reduced charges for all Council car-parks in the town centre.

The trial commences on Monday 28th September and ends 31 March 2016 and the simple message to the public is ‘use it, or lose it’.

According to Bill Harvey, BID Manager at Kirkcaldy 4 All “we are delighted to be able to support this trial in Kirkcaldy. Business rates in Kirkcaldy have been historically high and in the current economic climate, it has proven difficult for existing business owners to entice new customers. Having high parking costs in the mix certainly hasn’t helped. Kirkcaldy is a great town, with a great history, and we want people to use their town centre. If we can’t prove that this pilot has increased cars using the Council car-parks and increased the dwell time in the shops, then we will struggle to have a case to keep the costs lowered. We hope the public and especially the town centre workers, will take advantage of the offer”

Costs for short stay and long stay car-parks will be amended as well as seasonal tickets which will be halved, allowing town centre workers and frequent visitors to park for just £1 per day.

Welcoming this trial, Cllr Neil Crooks Chair of Kirkcaldy Area Committee said: “Car park charges are usually considered on a Fife-wide basis, but we’ve been given the opportunity to try to positively react to this situation locally. The impact of the closure of the Tesco store has given us a solid case to make these changes. We’ll be looking closely at this trial which will hopefully encourage more people to pay less and stay longer.
“Parking is as a key action point in Kirkcaldy’s ‘Time for Action’ plan and there’ll be great interest in whether this trial will contribute towards regenerating the town centre. I hope people get behind it and take advantage of these new parking options.”