A Fife Council decision to freeze parking charges is proof that the local authority is listening to businesses, it has been claimed.
Bill Harvey, manager of Kirkcaldy BID group Kirkcaldy 4 All, believes that by freezing rates in public car parks, shoppers are more likely to visit the high street.
Members of Fife Council’s executive committee agreed to suspend an increase in parking charges citing concerns over the potential impact on shops.
Though having the potential to raise thousands of pounds of additional revenue, councillors agreed that assisting beleaguered shopping precincts should take priority over the council coffers.
Welcoming the move, Mr Harvey said that it showed the local authority is listening to the needs of retailers.
“It’s anecdotal evidence but whenever we speak to shoppers one of the major factors that they talk about is parking charges and the state of car parks,” he said.
“It’s a perception and part of Kirkcaldy 4 All’s remit is to change perception of what people think of Kirkcaldy town centre.
“We have a good mixture of retailers, both national and independent, and good transport links as well. This move from Fife Council is really positive and sends out the message that they are listening.”
Fife Council operates 12,178 parking places throughout the region, of which 3,135 are fee-paying. A further 618 on-street spaces are also subject to charges.
In 2005 it was agreed that income from parking charges be subject to an “inflation plus 1%” annual average increase.
However, in light of the economic climate and the hardship facing many of the region’s town centres, it has been decided to halt the increase in a bid to help encourageshoppers to visit their high street. It is also anticipated that increases in future years could also be frozen unless a major change in shopping habits takes place.
This will, however, have an impact on the local authority’s budget, with a shortfall of around £114,000 to be met from council balances.
In a report prepared for councillors, John Mitchell, the council’s lead professional for parking strategy, said: “Currently there are concerns on the impact of recessionary factors on economic performance; unfortunately this is no exception for car parking, notably in town centres.
“Even with the supportive measures introduced, town centre vitality continues to struggle.
“The exemption of an increase to the level of parking charges for financial year 2013-14 is focused on further assisting Fife town centres in these difficult economic times.
“The level of parking income in Fife has been greatly influenced by the decrease in demand due to the global economic downturn, popularity of out of town developments, online shopping and, the parking ‘lost’ in the drive to help facilitate town centre, retail and leisure developments as part of wider agendas for our communities and the place making agendas for our town centres.”
Members of the committee agreed to exempt charges for the 2013-14 financial year and will consider an extension as part of the council’s budget for 2014-17.