Councils in England made over £411 million in parking charges last year (2011/12) - an increase of 14.9 per cent - according to research by the Institute of Advanced Motorists.  In 2010/11 Councils made £358 million.

In 2009/10 councils made £322 million from parking charges making the three-year increase 27 per cent.

The top council earners in 2011/12, (with percentage increases based on the previous year) were:

• Westminster (£38m) up 8.7 per cent
• Kensington and Chelsea (£27.5m) up 31 per cent
• Camden (£25m) up 18 per cent

Outside of London the biggest earners were:

• Brighton and Hove (£13.7m) up 18.9 per cent
• Milton Keynes (£6.5m) up 9.3 per cent
• Newcastle upon Tyne (£6.2m) up 51 per cent

At the same time the amount spent by councils on road safety, education and safe routes to schools, decreased by 18 per cent, from £127.5m to £105m.

Overall revenue spending on highways and transport reduced by 6 per cent between 2010/11 and 2011/12, while capital expenditure (on construction, tarmac etc) reduced by an estimated 13%.

A Department for Communities and Local Government report from June 2012 estimates that capital expenditure on highways and transport will fall by a further 11% over 2012/13.

IAM chief executive Simon Best said:  “Councils are making record-breaking profits from parking, while cutting road safety spending on life-saving services such as, education for young drivers, cycle training, and safe routes to schools schemes.

“At the same time cuts to road maintenance will mean a backlog of repairs which will simply cost more to fix in the long term.”

Click Here to view a full breakdown of the total parking income