Walking around the town centre, it is clear that there is no shortage of parking provisionSusan Jeynes, from Mid Fife Greens
A recent survey found that improving leisure facilities on Kirkcaldy Prom was more important to local residents than creating more parking.
Kirkcaldy Prom is widely acknowledged as the town’s greatest potential asset – however, an asset that is largely unrealised. With the plan to narrow the road to a single carriageway between the harbour and Tollbooth Street, the question remains – what should the additional space this frees up be used for? And how much of it, if any, should be given over to parking?
Mid Fife Greens, during a recent consultation exercise with local residents, found that prioritising leisure facilities on the Prom over parking was an important issue to 96% of respondents.
Further investigation into the situation revealed that there are currently almost 1,800 public parking spaces within 3-minutes’ walk of the main stretch of Kirkcaldy High Street – and that’s not including on-street parking. A spot check on a Thursday afternoon found that only 24% of these spaces were occupied.
“Walking around the town centre, it is clear that there is no shortage of parking provision,” says Susan Jeynes, from Mid Fife Greens. “It’s not unusual for me to see town centre car parks that are virtually - if not completely - empty, even at weekends. There is no need for any additional parking.
“The extra space that will soon be freed up could be put to much better use, like a café, children’s play park, and picnic areas. We urge the council not to create any more parking in the town centre, but to use this opportunity to provide leisure facilities instead, making the Prom the attraction that we’d all like it to be.”
NOTES:
The car parks included in these figures are: Milton Road, Nicol Street (bottom of Milton Road), Nicol Street (by B&M Bargains), Esplanade A, Esplanade B, Glasswork Street A, Glasswork Street B, Charlotte Street A, Charlotte Street B, Thistle Street Multistorey, Esplanade Multistorey, Mercat Multistorey, The Postings, Oswald’s Wynd, Hill Place, Coal Wynd A, Dunnikier Road, St James Church.
These figures do nnt include dedicated customer car parks, such as the one at Dunelm.
The attached pictures were all taken during working hours on a Thursday afternoon.