A campaign has been launched to drive out proposals to charge for parking at Fife railway stations and park-and-ride facilities.
Councillors will consider charging £1.60 or £2.40 a day for the car parks at Inverkeithing, Kirkcaldy, Dunfermline Town and Queen Margaret, Dalgety Bay, Rosyth and Leuchars stations and the Ferrytoll and Halbeath park-and-rides.
SNP councillors have swung into action to attempt to stop what is being described as an attempt to fleece commuters.
Their campaign, launched on Facebook but taking to the streets of Fife, saw protestors gather at Inverkeithing station on Sunday to garner support ahead of Tuesday’s meeting of Fife Council’s executive committee.
SNP councillor Karen Marjoram said the charges would amount to £40 or more a month for some on top of their existing travel costs.
She added: ”To bring in parking charges when people are already feeling the pinch with the rise in public transport fares and fuel costs beggars belief, and we have been given the excuse that time is of the essence for this issue.
”Taking it straight to the executive denies the elected members, the area committees, the community councils and, most importantly, the people of Fife the opportunity to express their views on the introduction of parking charges.
”For example, bringing in a parking charge of £1.60 or £2.40 at Ferrytoll park-and-ride is just bringing back bridge tolls by the back door.”
By Sunday afternoon more than 250 people had joined the online campaign that was launched on Thursday night.
One supporter, Vicky Smith, said: ”I commute from Inverkeithing every day. I am disgusted by this proposal.
”I now intend to take the bus to work from Rosyth as I refuse to pay these obscene charges on top of my already very expensive train fares. We have to fight this.”
Council officers have argued the scheme, which would generate revenue of £1.4 million a year once fully operationally, is necessary as demand for parking was generally higher than capacity.
They claim spaces are being taken up by people leaving their cars when they go on holiday and other long-stay parkers, and that introducing charges would create a greater turnover of spaces.
Consideration is also to be given to creating resident parking zones in areas around the stations.Council leader pledges consultationThe leader of Fife Council has insisted everyone will be able to have their say on introducing parking charges.
Alex Rowley insisted the decision would not lie with the executive alone. Both the transport and finance policy advisory groups would be involved, he said.
”It has become apparent that transport operators have not been consulted and that more detailed analysis of the usage of these facilities is required.
”There is also a financial consideration for the council in using charges to help offset the £70 million gap in the council’s budget over the next three years.”
The scheme will be consulted upon as part of the wider consultation being drafted for consideration in the 2014-15 budget, where he said there was a £50 million gap between funds coming from the Scottish Government and services provided.
He added: ”The political structures now in place allow for officials to bring proposals forward and for every councillor to be actively involved in assessing the impact of those proposals and for the public to have a say. This is what will happen with these proposals for the train stations and park-and-ride facilities.”