Sunday parking charges to be introduced across Fife
Shoppers will have to pay to park from 1pm on Sundays, starting early next year.
Shoppers in Fife will soon have to pay to park on a Sunday afternoon.
The local council's Executive Committee has agreed that charges at metered on-street and off-street parking places on Sundays after 1pm will be introduced across the region early in the new year.
Depute Leader, Councillor Lesley Laird, said: “With Sunday trading now commonplace, demand for parking within our town centres on Sundays is generally like any other day of the week and we need to find ways to manage the demand.
"With the ongoing significant budget challenges facing all local authorities, potentially up to £40M of cuts this year for Fife, we are one of the few councils that hadn’t already introduced parking charges on Sundays.
“Parking charges in Fife compare very favourably with neighbouring authorities and in Dunfermline and Kirkcaldy, the private car park operators associated with the shopping centres already charge all day on Sundays.
“More broadly, we recognise the challenges all our towns are facing and that different solutions maybe required.
"A good example of this is the parking pilot in Kirkcaldy which was developed by the BID company and Area Committee as a response to the withdrawal of Tesco and more recently BHS from the town centre.
"It is being funded through a £60,000 contribution from the Area Committee budget and will run as a pilot for 12 months.
"Discussions have also begun with Dunfermline and St Andrew’s BID companies to look at a range of parking suggestions that they have made and which may be appropriate for future consideration and at their local Area Committees."