The reintroduction of parking charges in East Kilbride has been postponed.
That’s after councillors effectively handed the decision to reinstate off-street parking charges to the Scottish Government.
Plans to bring charges back from April 1 were pushed back until non-essential retail is allowed to operate again.
Labour group leader, Councillor Joe Fagan, proposed the move as the original recommendation assumed “we would be in a better place in terms of COVID”.
Parking in car parks managed by the council have been free since March 2020 following the UK-wide coronavirus lockdown.
Non-essential retail is not due to open until April 26 under plans announced by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, but that could change if improvements in the coronavirus situation don’t continue.
Originally recommendations made by the parking review group assumed the coronavirus situation in Scotland would have allowed for the reopening of non-essential retail in time for the new financial year – April 1.
At an executive committee meeting on March 10, councillors agreed to all of the recommendation from the council’s cross-party parking review group, postponing the reintroduction if charges.
East Kilbride Central North councillor, Mr Fagan, added: “It can be a very emotive issue, but when we looked into the detail we came up with quite modest changes – changes I think would have an impact on people’s behaviour.
“At that point, the expectation was that come the turn of the financial year, we would be in a better place in terms of COVID and that we would start to see the reopening of the economy.”
East Kilbride Central South councillor, and chairman of the parking review group, John Anderson he thought “we reached a very successful conclusion for the communities we serve”.
Payment app RingGo will still be introduced at all of the council’s existing charging locations, in preparation for charges resuming, and initiatives to encourage shoppers into Hamilton town centre and The Village in East Kilbride will be trialled.
That includes one hour of free parking in The Village at on and off street parking venues.
