PARKING problems at primary schools in West Fife appear to have reduced – but no-one’s quite sure why.

Fife Council’s attendants respond to requests for enforcement action outside the school gates, with inappropriate parking, speeding and obstruction among the main offences.

But those calls for help dropped by more than 50 per cent with one example at Carnegie Primary School in Dunfermline, where there were 15 visits by the parking team in 2015/16 and just one last year.

The council is hoping the message has got through but admitted it was “difficult to pinpoint” where it had gone right.

In a report, Ken Gourlay, head of assets, transportation and the environment, said: “In 2016/17 there was a significant drop in the number of requests that were received by the council for enforcement at schools.

“In the previous year, 272 visits were made to primary schools, mainly in response to requests, as opposed to 132 in 2016/17.

“It is difficult to pinpoint the reason for this but the previous year’s level of enforcement seems to have had an effect on compliance levels at some schools.”

Another school where the figures suggest the situation has improved is at Park Road Primary in Rosyth, where the number of visits dropped from eight to one.

He continued: “It is interesting, however, to note that the number of penalty charge notices issued in 2016/17 is higher than in 2015/16, despite there being less school visits.

“This could be a result of a more robust approach being taken by the parking attendants rather than the focus being on educating drivers/parents as was the case in the past.”

Mr Gourlay said a “recurring problem” is parents who park on School Keep Clear markings and he added: “The main issue in terms of enforcement is that parents tend to be sitting in their vehicles and move when the parking attendants appear so that only a few penalty charge notices have been issued for this offence.”

The council’s attendants work with Police Scotland to deal with parking problems at schools.

Visits are scheduled in response to requests for enforcement although “known problems are also targeted on an ad-hoc basis”.

The most visited schools in West Fife in 2016/17 were Dalgety Bay and Duloch (four visits each), and Canmore, McLean, St Leonard’s and Townhill, which were all visited three times.