Have your say on Residents’ Permit Parking Scheme

Residents and businesses in Kilmarnock are being asked to give their views on a proposed new scheme to help deal with the increasing amount of residential streets around the town centre becoming full of parked vehicles during the working day.

With many residents becoming regularly inconvenienced as they can’t get parked near their homes, the residents’ permit parking scheme aims to provide as much space as possible for residents and their visitors while still taking into account the need to cater for town centre workers and shoppers. 

A previously proposed residents’ parking scheme in 2014 was not implemented after it became clear through the public engagement exercise that there was not enough support from residents across all of the proposed areas.

At that time, it was felt that the problem was not at a level that would warrant the introduction of a residents’ parking scheme and residents did not want to have to pay for a permit to park in their street. The Council is now proposing and consulting on a different type of scheme where streets will become permit zones with parking bays which have different types of use.

The restrictions would operate between 8am and 6pm from Monday – Saturday and residents within each zone would be able to obtain a residents’ permit for every vehicle registered at their home address free of charge. This would allow them to park in the signed parking bays at all times and for as long as they like.

Visitors to the zone would also be able to park and would have three options:

1) Park for free within the signed bays without the need to display a permit for up to a maximum of 1 hour. It’s hoped that this would cater for short visits such as those by carers and others.

2) If visitors are visiting a resident and want to park for longer than 1 hour, they will be able to obtain a visitor permit from the resident. Visitor permits can be purchased by residents in advance for a fee of 50p per permit and they will be available to buy in batches.

3) If a visitor is looking to park all day for any other purpose, for example to go to work or visit the shops, they will have to pay a daily rate for parking which is proposed to be set at £3.

Outside the times of operation of the zone (overnight 6pm – 8am Monday to Saturday and all day on Sundays), parking within the signed bays would be unrestricted. This means that people could park without a permit and would not have to pay for parking.

The consultation is open until 4 October 2020 and people can visit www.east-ayrshire.gov.uk/residentsparking to complete the online resident's permit parking survey. 

At the end of the consultation period, the feedback will be presented and a report prepared for the Council’s Cabinet. 

Councillor Jim Roberts, Cabinet Member for Economy and Infrastructure said: “We are asking our local residents and businesses for some specific feedback on the £3 charge for day stays and on the one hour time-length allowed for free parking, as well as trying to find out how much support there is for the scheme.

“If the majority of residents responding in a zone support the scheme, our recommendation is likely to be to progress with the statutory consultation processes required to introduce the scheme in that zone.

“We hope to reach a solution whereby we are able to meet the competing demands of residents and their visitors, as well as town centre workers and shoppers. Your feedback will be vital in helping us do this.”

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