Councils make extra £60m from parking charges and fines

The amount of money councils in England generated from parking charges and fines has risen by more than £60m in the past year, research has found.
The RAC Foundation said local authorities made a surplus of £756m in 2015/16 - 9% higher than in 2014/15.
Director Steve Gooding said the "eye-wateringly large" amounts reflected growing competition for parking spaces.
The Local Government Association insisted councils did not make a profit from parking.
The surplus figure was calculated by looking at the income councils received from on- and off-street parking charges and penalty notices, minus their running costs.
Income was up by 4% and costs fell by 2% in the past year, according to the RAC, while the surplus figure was 34% higher than in 2011/12.
'Cash cow'
Mr Gooding said: "Parking charges are one of the tools councils use to keep traffic moving whilst also allowing people reasonable and affordable access to High Street shops and other facilities.
"The good news is that any profit generated by councils from on-street parking must by law be spent on transport-related activities, and as every motorist knows there's no shortage of work that needs doing."
The largest surpluses came from London, with its 33 local authorities accounting for 44% of the country's total.
The biggest amount outside of the capital was the £20.1m surplus in Brighton and Hove, followed by Nottingham's £13.6m.
Nottingham City Council said its surplus came from the Workplace Parking Levy (WPL).
The scheme - introduced in 2012 - charges businesses based in the city centre a fee for having more than 10 parking spaces.
Nottingham's WPL has helped fund the extension to the city's tram network.
Brighton and Hove Council said the surplus reflected the fact Brighton was a large city and that nearly all of its surplus from on-street parking was used to buy bus passes for the elderly or disabled people.
Top 10
Westminster (£55.9m, up from £46.4m in 2014/15)
Kensington and Chelsea (£34.2m, up from £33m)
Camden (£25.2m, up from £24.5m)
Hammersmith and Fulham (£22.7m, down from £23.8m)
Wandsworth (£21.2m, up from £20.4m)
Brighton and Hove (£20.1m, up from £18.6m)
Islington (£15.5m, up from £13.7m)
Haringey (£14.9m, down from £16.1m)
Nottingham (£13.6m, up from £13.3m)
Hackney (£12.9m, up from £10.8m)
The LGA, which represents councils in England and Wales, said local authorities must "strike a balance" when setting charges to ensure there were parking spaces available and traffic was not held up.
Transport spokeswoman Judith Blake added: "Income from on-street parking charges is spent on running parking services, and surpluses are spent on essential transport projects, such as tackling the £12bn roads repair backlog, creating new parking spaces and providing subsidised bus travel for children or elderly residents."
The Department for Communities and Local Government said it was supporting a private member's bill by Conservative MP David Tredinnick to make it easier for English councils to lower parking charges at short notice.
A spokesman added: "We've been clear councils shouldn't use parking as a cash cow, and many recognise the benefits that reduced or free parking has on encouraging footfall on the High Street."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-38258461

Although my local borough of Hillingdon is not listed, monies do not seem to be forthcoming for local road repairs.
On my local high street, some parts are a dire.

With the lack of parking and so many of those yellow lines it will only get worse....They know this and they bloody love it !!!

It's not like the councils are spending the extra on shareholders or massive bonuses for the bosses. Park in the wrong place of for longer than you are allowed then you get you just deserts.
If they didn't make that money then it will come out of the budget for other things which, bearing in mind the reductions in the contribution from central government would mean other services are hit.

drew said:

It's not like the councils are spending the extra on shareholders or massive bonuses for the bosses. Park in the wrong place of for longer than you are allowed then you get you just deserts.
If they didn't make that money then it will come out of the budget for other things which, bearing in mind the reductions in the contribution from central government would mean other services are hit.

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Precisely. Nothing to see here, move on. Close thread (before the outraged arrive)

drew said:

It's not like the councils are spending the extra on shareholders or massive bonuses for the bosses. Park in the wrong place of for longer than you are allowed then you get you just deserts.
If they didn't make that money then it will come out of the budget for other things which, bearing in mind the reductions in the contribution from central government would mean other services are hit.

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Quite. Some people seem to think driving and parking is a birth right.

portlock seagull said:

Precisely. Nothing to see here, move on. Close thread (before the outraged arrive)

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Oh do behave, I havent had a parking ticket for perhaps 30 years, but its an obscene amount, the more sanctions you introduce to a piece of road the more they receive.

We would all agree there are some idiots that park in stupid places that might be deemed dangerous and block access etc. and I have no sympathy for them, but for most there are just overstayed, perhaps misunderstood or just thought a quick stop would be ok, nothing particularly sinister in any of those circumstances,

I went and watched a game at the pitches near the Black Lion, London Road, on the highway there were white lines and then a clearing without any lineage I went to innocently park but my wife saw a traffic warden, I asked why cant I park there and he pointed to a sign that most would not recognise, a 'highway clearance' by all accounts.

I moved and he didnt ticket me, but he snuck out from the bushes and waited for after kick off before ticketing the predominately young footballers that had innocently parked and he then quickly snuck off before the players realised and his deed was done, each £40.00 quid down before mid day on a Sunday.

He no doubt does this week in and week out, if there really is a safety issue or other then with a flow of young drivers why not just give them the heads up, double yellows or a simple A4 board anything that could leave that part of the road car free, but I will tell you why not they are greedy *******s and adds to their revenue stream, cheap shots.

BigGully said:

Oh do behave, I havent had a parking ticket for perhaps 30 years, but its an obscene amount, the more sanctions you introduce to a piece of road the more they receive.

We would all agree there are some idiots that park in stupid places that might be deemed dangerous and block access etc. and I have no sympathy for them, but for most there are just overstayed, perhaps misunderstood or just thought a quick stop would be ok, nothing particularly sinister in any of those circumstances,

I went and watched a game at the pitches near the Black Lion, London Road, on the highway there were white lines and then a clearing without any lineage I went to innocently park but my wife saw a traffic warden, I asked why cant I park there and he pointed to a sign that most would not recognise, a 'highway clearance' by all accounts.

I moved and he didnt ticket me, but he snuck out from the bushes and waited for after kick off before ticketing the predominately young footballers that had innocently parked and he then quickly snuck off before the players realised and his deed was done, each £40.00 quid down before mid day on a Sunday.

He no doubt does this week in and week out, if there really is a safety issue or other then with a flow of young drivers why not just give them the heads up, double yellows or a simple A4 board anything that could leave that part of the road car free, but I will tell you why not they are greedy *******s and adds to their revenue stream, cheap shots.

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Once again, no public body is whiter than white. Generally, people get tickets for disobeying the controls that are there to read or should be understood if you've passed your test. Of course, many drivers haven't.

Parking income has to be spent in accordance with the 1984 Road Traffic Act

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1984/27/contents

Would you prefer your council tax to go up instead?

Cheshire Cat said:

Parking income has to be spent in accordance with the 1984 Road Traffic Act

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1984/27/contents

Would you prefer your council tax to go up instead?

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Once again, if you accept I am not talkiing about foolish or overtly inconsiderate parkers, then the many millions out of the £60 million that is taken from the likes of you and I is no more than a random tax that falls on an unidentifiable resident, that isnt a reasonable way to raise tax or construct a budget.