Parking operations in England: how much is your local council making?
My friend John Shepherd always says: if you want a row start with a map. It is with some trepidation therefore that I introduce this story. At the nub of the issue however is public negativity and my personal concern that if parking regimes are pushed too hard and too far they do materially more damage to local authorities than the revenue they raise. This is particularly true in rural areas where they can act as the final death knell to challenged town centres. The article – which links to an interactive map – tells us:
The Department for Transport is considering abolishing the minimum rates for parking penalty charges after criticism by the Commons transport committee that local councils use parking enforcement as a “cash cow”. Using the latest data on parking operations from the RAC Foundation, we’ve mapped the revenue generated from on and off street parking activities in 2012-13 for all English councils.
The RAC Foundation figures, calculated by adding up income from parking charges and penalty notices, then deducting running costs, show that in 2012-13 councils generated a combined ‘profit’ of £594m. The interactive map below shows parking operations revenue out-turn for all English councils in 2012-13, excluding capital costs (interest and depreciation)