Council makes a £14m surplus from car parking
BIRMINGHAM made nearly £14 million surplus from parking fees and fines in the last financial year – the second-highest sum outside London.
Across England as a whole, councils made a record surplus of £930 million in 2018-19 – seven per cent more than in the previous 12 months, according to the RAC. The surplus in 2015-16 was just £744 million.
Birmingham always denied parking charges.
A spokesman said: “Financial information relating to our parking service is available in our annual parking report.
“Surplus from parking revenue is re-invested in the service, improving roads and car parks.
“This is not about making a profit but about maintaining a quality parking service, as well as encouraging greater use of public transport and the environmental benefits that will bring.”
Local authorities across the UK received a total income of £1.746 billion from their parking operations in 2018/19.
This included £454 million from penalties, which was up six per cent year-on-year.
The amount that councils spent on running their day-to-day parking operations was £816 million, not including interest payments or depreciation of assets such as car parks.
Any money made from parking must be spent on local transport projects.
RAC Foundation director Steve Gooding said: “Penalties now seem to account for nearly half of all onstreet
City Council profiteering
has from parking income. What will surprise drivers is that even as parking income soars, the amount of money being spent on routine road maintenance by councils has been in reverse.”
The RAC study was carried out by transport consultant David Leibling, who analysed Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government data.
Only 41 of the 353 councils that returned figures to central government reported a loss on their parking operations. Many of the highest totals for budgeted surpluses were seen in London, with Westminster having the largest (£69.2 million) followed by Kensington and Chelsea (£37.3 million) and Wandsworth (£26.3 million).
The biggest amount outside the capital was reported by Brighton & Hove at £26 million.
David Renard, the Local Government Association’s transport spokesman, said: “Councils are on the side of motorists and shoppers when setting
BIRMINGHAM Airport has been named as one of the most expensive for parking in the UK.
Parking comparison site, Airport Parking Shop, reviewed pricing for a week’s parking at every UK airport on its platform.
The website looked each UK airport over the peak 2019 summer holiday period (June 1 to August 31) comparing prices with those for the same week in 2018.
It found that prices fluctuated massively with some airport parking operators’ prices falling dramatically and other seeing huge increases.
The price review found that the cost of parking at Birmingham Airport increased by 40 per cent.
However, a week’s parking at Birmingham Airport from July 2-9, cost £119, a 236 per cent rise on the same period the year before, which cost £35. parking policies which aim to make sure there are spaces available for residents, high streets are kept vibrant and traffic is kept moving.
“Any income raised through onstreet parking charges and fines is spent on running parking services and any surplus is only spent on essential transport projects, such as filling potholes, supporting concessionary bus fares to help reduce congestion and other local transport projects that benefit high streets and local economies.”