Coronavirus affects Council parking profits

Councils in England recorded a 4.6% reduction in profits from parking in 2019-20, according to figures obtained by the RAC Foundations.

Local authorities made a combined profit of £891 million from parking last year, a reduction on the £934m made in 2018-19.

Between them these 338 local authorities in England had a total income of £1.746 billion from their on- and off-street parking operations in 2019-20, the same amount as in 2018-19.

The amount Councils spent on running their parking was £854 million, up on the £812 million in the previous year. This expenditure does not include interest payments or depreciation on their capital assets such as car parks as these figures are not accounted for in the official data.

Not all councils made large profits, but only 35 of the 338 reported a loss.

Summary table of English council parking accounts for 2019-20 (£ millions):

As seen in previous years those councils with the largest surplus (profit) tended to be in London, with Westminster council topping the list with a surplus of £69.6 million.

Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said: “Parking management is quite a money-spinner for some local authorities, and nationally it is a big business with total income of more than £1.7bn. The surplus for 2019-20 is down a little on the year before which may in part reflect the impact of the first Covid lockdown which saw traffic levels plummet at the end of last March.

“The dip is likely to be much deeper for the current financial year given the range of restrictions over the past 12 months and the government’s current plea that we should all stay at home if we can.

“Going forward there are likely to be many councils who are actually looking to cut parking charges as a way of encouraging more people to visit their High Streets which are fighting for survival.”

Top 30 English councils by level of parking surplus in 2019-20 (£ millions):

The full report into Council parking income and expenditure can be viewed here: https://www.racfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/English-councils-parking-report-2019-20-final.pdf