THE decision to go ahead and build a pool in Tolbooth Street car park could put the future of Kirkcaldy High Street in jeopardy.
And all the ambitious plans to expand the Mercat Shopping Centre could count for nothing if there are no businesses left in the High Street to support it.
That was the impassioned warning from a long-standing Kirkcaldy councillor this week as coun
cillors voted to tie-up loose ends on the project by approving a traffic regulation order to remove Tolbooth Street from Fife Council's list of car parks.
Councillor Neil Crooks, Labour representative for Kirkcaldy North, said the current direction the local authority's administration was taking was "at complete odds with public opinion" and was "endangering the future prosperity" of the High Street.
Councillor Crooks said the powers the Council had to regulate the car park should remain because the public wanted it to remain.
"I would hope that at some point in the near future, there is a change of mind with regards to the administration in response to the massive public angst about approving that site," he said.
Councillors were told by transportation boss Ian Smith that the only reason for the order to remove the car park from the Council's list was for good practice, as there was no need to have it on a list if it had no powers of enforcement for ticketing over the facility.
And he explained that if councillors voted to approve the Traffic Regulation Order (TRO), it would lead to the start of a 21-day notice period during which objections could be lodged – and that could include the 7000-signature petition collected by campaigners opposed to closing the car park if they lodge it during the consultation period.
As part or the order, residents with parking permits for Tolbooth Street would have them transferred to The Postings car park.
Ian Smith, planning officer, also said shops which rely on Tolbooth Street for key deliveries could possibly use Barnet's Vennel – but access would be denied to pedestrians when work on the pool started.
He said: "This report for a traffic order follows the planning decision for the pool complex on Tolbooth Street. It is not about reopening consideration of the planning process."
Councillor Ron Edwards moved an amendment to the motion to approve the order, saying it should remain.
The motion was passed on the casting vote of the chairman.
