£48m profit is just the ticket

COUNCILS across the West raked in more than £48 million in parking profits last year.

The authorities made their biggest profits in a decade from providing both on-street and off-street parking in 2017/18, according to figures released today.

Driving organisations criticised rising profits across the country for leaving motorists with less money to spend, while the group representing councils said profits were being invested in fixing roads and boosting local economies.

The total profit for councils across the West – of £48.3 million – was up compared to the £45 million in profit the councils made in 2016/17. It has also doubled compared to the £23.5 million made in 2008/09.

The councils spent £43.5 million on employees and running costs for providing parking in 2017/18.

They raked in £91.8 million in income – including £88.5 million in sales, fees and charges.

Generally the cost to the council for providing parking over the ten years for which data is available, has risen more slowly than the amount of income from sales, charges and fees – leading to the increase in profits.

Bristol made the biggest profit in 2017/18 at £9.5 million, a small fall in a year, followed by Bath and North East Somerset at £7.8 million, a rise of a quarter in a year.

Both South Gloucestershire and Forest of Dean made a loss on providing parking in 2017/18.

Councils across England made £871.5 million in profits from parking in 2017/18, the highest amount since records began in 2008/09.

Profits were up six per cent from £819.8 million in 2016/17, and have rocketed 80 per cent in a decade, having stood at £483.4 million in 2008/09.

It cost councils £785.9 million to provide parking services in 2017/18, with costs generally remaining stable over the past decade.

Income from parking services across England was £1.7 billion in 2017/18, including money raised from sales, fees and charges.

Income from sales, fees and charges has risen by six per cent year-onyear and by more than a quarter since 2008/09 – suggesting most of the increase in profits for councils has come from more income from sales, fees and charges.

RAC head of roads policy Nicholas Lyes: “While it is right that local authorities have the ability to control parking, these sort of inflation-busting increases are additional expenses on top of already hard-pressed motorists who have been contending with rising fuel prices and wors- ening local road conditions.

“It also reinforces the notion that motorists are an easy target for cashstrapped local authorities so it is vital they demonstrate that revenues are reinvested back into local road maintenance and improvements.”

AA spokesman Luke Bosdet said increasing parking charges at a time when high streets were struggling was the wrong approach, saying councils should be working to encourage people to visit high streets and spend.

He said: “Firstly, the high cost of parking is sucking money out of consumer spending, money that could be spent in shops.

“Secondly, councils are increasingly reliant on their parking money to prop up their other services. In that respect, it’s a stealth tax. It should cover the cost of providing the service.

“What it’s become is a massive source of income from councils to spend on things not related to parking.”

Councillor Martin Tett, transport spokesman for the Local Government Association, said parking money is spent on running parking services, with any surplus only spent on essential transport projects, such as tackling a national £9 billion roads repair backlog, and on other projects that benefit high streets.

He said: “Councils are on the side of motorists and shoppers. They have to strike a balance when setting parking policy, both on street and off street, to make sure that there are spaces available for residents, high streets are kept vibrant and traffic is kept moving.

“Councils throughout the country are already leading the way in transforming the future potential of their town centres in the face of unprecedented changes in shopping habits and the retail landscape and parking is only part of a successful solution to high performing town centres.”