Parking revenue falls by almost €500,000
CLLR Shay Cullen has lashed out at the fact that revenue from the car parks at Brittas Bay and Glendalough isn’t kept by Wicklow Municipal District.
Instead funds collected go to the Environment Section of Wicklow County Council, despite both car parks being located within the area covered by Wicklow Municipal District.
Meanwhile, it was also revealed at the meeting that Wicklow County Council lost as much as €500,000 in paid parking revenue due to the Covid-19 lockdown.
Addressing last Monday’s meeting of Wicklow County Council, Cllr Cullen said: ‘ They are two of the biggest sources of revenue in the whole county, yet they aren’t included in Wicklow Municipal District figures. I have no doubt that Wicklow Municipal District needs the money and it is totally unfair that all the income goes to the Environmental Section and not the Wicklow District. As far as I am aware staff from Wicklow Municipal District look after both facilities. It’s about time that income was remunerated to Wicklow Municipal District.’
Cllr Mary Kavanagh suggested looking at a way to split the revenue from both car parks between Wicklow Municipal District and the Environmental Section.
She said: ‘I think we probably pay the highest charges in the county, yet our two biggest car parks don’t come to us. What about basing it on the proportional amount of work carried out by Wicklow Municipal District and the Environmental Section. It’s very unfair that we lose our two biggest funding streams. We should get some sort of proportional payback.’
Cllr Cullen also inquired over how much paid parking income was lost during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic when lockdown was in place.
Head of Finance, Brian Gleeson, said that between €400,000 and €500,000 in parking revenue had been lost this year.
‘July was the first month which brought us up to pre- Covid levels. Unfortunately, it’s lost income that won’t be replaced. It is part of the report from Local Authorities sent to the Department.’