Council is urged to think again on parking
A GLENROTHESS councillor is calling for a change of heart from his local authority after it turned down a request to ease parking problems.
Fife Council had previously put double yellow lines on the stretch of Napier Road near Glenrothes High School.
Local councillor Peter Grant said, “There’s no doubt this was the right thing to do in the interests of safety, but the council needs to realise that it’s causing problems for local residents who are struggling to find anywhere else to park.”
“My Scottish National Party colleague, Bill Brown, approached the education service to see if we could let residents park in the school car park outside of school hours.
“His initial approach was turned down, but after a recent visit to the site, attended by three of the four councillors in the (Glenrothes West and Kinglassie) ward, we all agreed to try again.
“We’ve only recently seen the formal response from the service and it’s disappointing to say the least.
“They’ve given a long list of things that could go wrong if they agreed to what is a very simple request, but it all comes down to the fact that the council are assuming local residents will abuse the facility and park in the school grounds during school hours.
“I think this is an unfair assumption - many local people have close relatives at the school, and they’re not going to do anything to compromise their safety.
“They’ll also know that if they don’t respect the basic safety rules that the school needs to put in place the facility will be withdrawn.
“It’s in their interests to use the car park responsibly and if we give them a chance that’s what they’ll do.”
Councillor Grant said he had gone back to the service and asked them to make the car park available on a trial basis.
He has also asked for Glenrothes Area Committee to be given the chance to discuss his proposal.
He went on: “We’ve got real problems being caused by a shortage of parking spaces, and right across the road there’s a massive car park that lies empty for nearly 70 percent of the school week, and 100 percent during the holidays.
“It’s a custom built car park owned by council and paid for by local people.
“The answer should be obvious - the council should be actively looking for ways to make the simple and obvious answer work.
“Instead it almost looks like they’re looking for excuses to say no.”
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Weather for Kirkcaldy
Sunday 19 May 2013
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