Christmas parking rules in Kilmarnock to be tweaked

East Ayrshire Council's cabinet will be asked to approve plans that would see three hours free parking both on and off street after 2pm each day.

In 2021, free parking was not time-limited, which led to town centre businesses complaining that the car parks were being used all day with little turnover.

In an attempt to address this in 2022, the council introduced a three-hour ‘free’ ticket for off-street car parking only which required getting a printed ticket from a paystation.

A significant number of drivers, at one point 100 per day, failed to get a ticket and the council eventually abandoned the enforcement of parking tickets altogether.

Cabinet will be asked to approve a plan that will see free parking return to both off and on street parking.

However, in order to avoid a repeat of last year, the free parking will only apply from 2pm for both on and off street bays.

That means that the three hours will run until 5pm, at which point the paid parking ends anyway.

The report to cabinet states that the 2021 scheme “proved unpopular with town centre businesses as it simply generated long stay parking with little turnover of parking spaces throughout the town”.

They explain last year’s issue, stating: “To facilitate three free hours parking in 2022, the car park ticket machines were fitted with new software which enabled the issue of a three-hour free parking ticket.

“Customers were advised through social media communications and signage erected throughout the car parks of the need to obtain a ticket from a machine and display it within their vehicle.

“This was introduced to try and ensure only one free parking session was obtained per day.

“Despite the information available within the public domain, it was noted that
during the first two weeks of the month a vast majority of customers did not
appreciate the need to obtain a free parking ticket or cashless parking session.

“It was estimated that there were in excess of 100 vehicles per day in the first week parked without a ticket displayed.”

Ultimately the approach led to a huge drop in car parking income and little positive while more than half of businesses said that they saw no increase in footfall, while half of those that did see an increase said it was not down to the parking offer.

The report concludes: “It is the officer recommendation that the three-free-hour-parking offer be amended by applying it during the month of December on-street Monday to Saturday and off-street Monday to Friday from 2pm to 5pm.

“Normal charges would apply from 9am to 2pm to deter all day parking by town centre workers or ongoing commuters.

This would enable the desired turnover of spaces throughout the peak hours and ensure the car parks are not subject to long stay commuter or worker parking.

"Saturdays shall remain free all day within off-street car parks.”

Cabinet will consider the matter on Wednesday, November 8.