Schools urged to rent out empty parking spaces to ‘needy motorists’

Schools in close proximity to public transport and/or local amenities are being urged to rent out spare parking spaces during the summer holidays.

The online parking portal, Yourparkingspace.co.uk, has called for this action to plug any school funding gaps and to help “needy motorists”.

It believes that in England there will be approximately 25,000 schools full of vacant spaces between July and August.

Yourparkingspace.co.uk estimates that if each of these schools rented out two parking spaces from Monday to Friday, for six weeks for £7 a day each, then it would raise £10.5 million over the summer holidays.

It claims that this is the equivalent to the annual salary of 467 new qualified teachers.

And with “school funding becoming a political battleground” it says parking rentals could solve budgetary issues for schools.

Yourparkingspace.co.uk managing director Harrison Woods said: “Cash-strapped schools in the right locations are potentially sitting on a parking goldmine.

“With budget restraints hitting hard on the public purse strings, this could be the ideal way to earn additional revenue from land that is effectively vacant for six weeks or more.

“And when you consider how many thousands of schools there are across the UK, then this potentially equates to hundreds of thousands of spare car parking spaces in July and August which could be a rich source of income.

“Many schools are located in urban areas and close to town centres, railway stations and the like, making them ideal for car owners looking for somewhere cheaper to park than a traditional car park.”