SUNDAY parking charges in Dunfermline bring in an average of just over £1,000 a week and are “penalising” shoppers and businesses.

That’s the claim from two opposition politicians who have joined forces to back the Press campaign to Keep it Free, after Fife Council confirmed that the policy brought in £55,000 last year, with £5,000 of it coming from fines.

Lib Dem councillor for Dunfermline South, James Calder, and Dunfermline North Conservative councillor Gavin Ellis have tabled a motion calling for the removal of the Sunday charges, and possibly other dates, at the City of Dunfermline area committee on February 5.

Cllr Calder said: “With other towns and cities nearby not having Sunday parking charges, it seems ludicrous that Dunfermline is scoring an own goal by having them.

“As a result of recent calls, I have discussed with Cllr Ellis and we both agree that the charges should be scrapped.

“I’m pleased we have worked across party lines to put forward a motion to the City of Dunfermline area committee to look towards scrapping these charges.”

Last week, the Press listed a number of towns and cities, like Edinburgh, Perth, Crieff, Motherwell, Dumfries, Stirling, Falkirk, Paisley, Alloa, Livingston, Kilmarnock and Musselburgh, that currently do not charge to park on the seventh day.

Out of 20 local authorities we asked, only seven have Sunday fees in their car parks.

Cllr Ellis stated: “This is clearly an issue that residents and businesses alike want us to look at and I am delighted that they can see Cllr Calder and I working cross-party to address this.

“Dunfermline already has large areas of free parking around the town and it makes no sense to continue hampering our high street – we must ease access.

“We both hope when the motion comes to committee that councillors can all agree to proceed with it. This means that we will stop penalising and instead start listening to local businesses and communities who agree we should scrap Sunday parking charges.”

The motion calls for a review of the charges “with the option included to remove them and to consider what other key shopping dates in the year they could be removed from to encourage more residents and visitors to shop in Dunfermline”.

Across Fife as a whole, the income from Sunday parking in council car parks in 2017-18 was £200,000, with £30,000 of the total coming from penalty charge notices.

As yet, there are no figures for this financial year. There are also no figures on what the policy, introduced in January 2017, is costing Dunfermline in terms of lost revenue with traders claiming that having to pay to park on a Sunday is damaging their business.

Bryan Coghill, who stays in Newmills and is the chef at the new Jack ‘O’ Bryan’s restaurant in Dunfermline, which opens tomorrow (Friday), said: “It’s not just customers, it affects staff too. I’m pretty much paying £4 a day for parking and there are six of us with cars, so that’s £24 a day from one little business. So that’s staff having to pay to come to their work, which is a bit much. Of course, getting rid of the charges would help businesses.

“Town centres are having a bad enough time as it is, you’ve got to keep them alive or you just end up with empty spaces and derelict buildings.”