A cut-price parking trial in Kirkcaldy town centre has been extended as councillors prepare to assess its success.
The cost of parking has been slashed for the past six months in a bid to boost trade in the Lang Toun’s traditional shopping precinct.
The trial had been scheduled to conclude today however, The Courier can exclusively reveal drivers will continue to benefit from the reduced rates until at least April 27.
That is the date when councillors will meet to assess the outcome of the initiative, designed to bolster trading in the High Street.
David Henderson, the chairman of Kirkcaldy West Community Council, said he believes the initiative has been beneficial to the town centre.
“Anecdotally, this is something that seems to have been tremendously popular,” he said.
“It could be better, as there are some anomalies between the main car parks and some of the subsidiaries, but as an experiment I think it has been very successful.
“There are more cars using the car park at Oswalds Wynd and the Esplanade, and on the whole I think it has been going very well.”
The six-month trial was launched in September with a view to boosting footfall within the town centre.
Having been affected terribly by the economic downturn, the green shoots of recovery have emerged recently.
However, the issue of parking charges has long been seen as a hurdle to allowing the traditional shopping precinct to compete with the Fife Central Retail Park on the town’s northern edge.
Short-stay parking of between one and two hours has been reduced by 50p to £1 during the trial period, which is due to run until March 31.
Meanwhile, long-stay charges have been reduced from £2.50 to £2 for two to four hours and from £3.60 to £3 for periods of more than four hours.
The cost of a quarterly season ticket has been reduced from £120 to £60, effectively £1 a day for somebody working a five-day week in the town centre.
Fife Council initially expected to make a loss of between £25,000 and £30,000 over the trial period, but a significant increase in footfall may have offset this.