Councils in England made over £411 million in parking charges last year (2011/12) - an increase of 14.9 per cent - according to research by the Institute of Advanced Motorists. In 2010/11 Councils made £358 million.
In 2009/10 councils made £322 million from parking charges making the three-year increase 27 per cent.
The top council earners in 2011/12, (with percentage increases based on the previous year) were:
- Westminster (£38m) up 8.7 per cent
- Kensington and Chelsea (£27.5m) up 31 per cent
- Camden (£25m) up 18 per cent
Outside of London the biggest earners were:
- Brighton and Hove (£13.7m) up 18.9 per cent
- Milton Keynes (£6.5m) up 9.3 per cent
- Newcastle upon Tyne (£6.2m) up 51 per cent
At the same time the amount spent by councils on road safety, education and safe routes to schools, decreased by 18 per cent, from £127.5m to £105m.
Overall revenue spending on highways and transport reduced by 6 per cent between 2010/11 and 2011/12, while capital expenditure (on construction, tarmac etc) reduced by an estimated 13%.
A Department for Communities and Local Government report from June 2012 estimates that capital expenditure on highways and transport will fall by a further 11% over 2012/13.
IAM chief executive Simon Best said: “Councils are making record-breaking profits from parking, while cutting road safety spending on life-saving services such as, education for young drivers, cycle training, and safe routes to schools schemes.
“At the same time cuts to road maintenance will mean a backlog of repairs which will simply cost more to fix in the long term.”
Click Here to view a full breakdown of the total parking income
Robert Beard - 09/01/2013 10:53
I imagine that these increases are largely the result of the increase in use of number plate recognition cameras and cars with these cameras being used instead of traffic wardens. In my view these are even worse than the wheel clampers that were made illegal but that the camera systems have replaced.