The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Delight as residents’ parking scheme near station gets go-ahead
Request for Burntisland permits given green light despite traffic officers’ objections over enforcement
Residents struggling to park near a Fife railway station are celebrating after an appeal for parking permits was granted.
Councillors have agreed to a request for a residents’ parking scheme in the streets surrounding Burntisland station, ignoring officers’ fears over the cost of implementing and enforcing it.
It was claimed some locals were forced to park up to half a mile away from their homes as commuters catching the train to work left their cars all day, and that tempers had begun to fray.
Tenants and residents association chairman Iain Ralph said the situation was “atrocious”.
“There have been words between people in the streets about parking and we have photographic evidence of illegal parking on pavements and over junctions,” he said.
“Residents in the area are not happy with the situation at the moment.”
Mr Ralph presented a petition signed by 66 people to Fife Council’s Kirkcaldy area committee this week.
Members unanimously agreed to the introduction of permits in West Leven Street, Sommerville Square and Kirkgate.
The move went against the advice of the council’s own transportation officers who said the scheme was not justified.
Lead traffic management consultant Phil Clarke said: “A residents’ parking scheme on these streets will require a significant resource to enforce in order for it to be effective.
“Such a scheme will displace commuter parking on to other nearby streets, creating a demand for the scheme to be extended further.
“Fife Council do not have the resources to accommodate such an extension of the current limited residents’ parking scheme.”
Labour councillor Gordon Langlands welcomed the decision and said the scheme would not be too onerous to police.
He said the permits would form part of a wider “jigsaw puzzle” aimed at solving the parking issue near the station.
“We’re pushing for a car park at the railway station, although that’s not likely to happen for at least another two years,” he said.
“In the meantime we needed to do something to take the pressure off residents and this should really help.”
Residents in the area are not happy with the situation at the moment. IAIN RALPH