Push to have two hours free parking in Ayr town centre 'as quickly as possible'

dailyrecord.co.uk:

South Ayrshire Council leader Martin Dowey has pushed to get two hours free parking up and running in Ayr town centre saying the move had been a success over the Christmas period.The cabinet this week agreed a plan to undertake a second consultation on the parking strategy, after the first attracted significant opposition to some of the proposals.This has led to a number of initial plans being dropped, including the extension of charging to car parks that are currently free as well as along the esplanade.No date was set for consultation, but is expected to take six weeks to undertake, with the physical work itself taking around 18 months to put in place.Cllr Dowey said: “We are all keen to get things moving.

The two hours free parking was a success for businesses over Christmas period.“We would like that brought in as quick as we can.

There was certainly a buzz around town that we haven’t seen for a while. That may not just be because of the parking, but it certainly helped, so we would like to see that done as soon as we can.”South Ayrshire Council and Ayrshire Roads Alliance introduced the free scheme in all on-street pay and display parking bays and council car parks (Barns Crescent, Charlotte Street, and Kyle Street) over Christmas.Councillors heard that officials want to abandon key elements of the original proposals following negative feedback during the original consultation, which received feedback from around 1,200 people.This includes dropping plans to extend charging into the council’s free car parks and the conversion of limited waiting bays to pay and display in Mill Street, Smith Street and Garden Street.Instead the proposals will seek to increase the maximum length of waiting in those streets to three