Council parking ‘profits’ rise again, reports RAC Foundation

Councils in England have seen their parking ‘profits’ rise by almost a third (32%) in just four years.

In 2017-18, the combined surplus made by the 353 English local authorities was £867 million, up from £658m in 2013-14.

Total income from both on- and off-street parking activity was £1.66 billion in 2017-18.

Total expenditure was £793m. Additionally, councils may incur interest payments or depreciation on their capital assets such as car parks, though this is not accounted for in these official figures.

The difference between the two – £867m – is the surplus or profit.

This is 6% more than the £819m made in the previous financial year (2016-17). It is also 11% higher than the £782m surplus that the councils themselves had budgeted for.

Analysis by David Leibling for the RAC Foundation shows that of the 353 councils which made official financial returns to central government, only 39 made a loss from their parking activities.

	£million	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2017-18 budget	2018-19 budget	Change 2017-18 on 2016-17
On-street	Fees and permits	435	472	483	542	578			7%
	Penalties	340	328	338	347	376			8%
	Total income	775	800	821	889	954			7%
	Expenditure	408	421	407	414	431			4%
	Surplus	367	379	414	475	523			10%

Off-street	Total income	640	645	670	693	706			2%
	Expenditure	349	341	340	349	362			4%
	Surplus	291	304	330	344	344			–

All parking	Total income	1,415	1,445	1,491	1582	1660			5%
	Expenditure	757	762	747	763	793			4%
	Surplus	658	683	744	819	867	782	885	6%

All England transport	Expenditure	4,796	4,537	4,331	4,012	3,997	4,240	4,251	-0.4%
	Parking surplus as % of net transport expenditure	14%	15%	17%	20%	22%	18%	21%

25 councils in England with the highest levels of surplus

£000	Parking operations Surplus
Local authority	Type of authority	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	Ranking by 2017-18 surplus
Westminster	L	51,037	46,426	55,875	73,191	57,582	1
Kensington & Chelsea	L	33,512	32,997	34,237	32,174	34,467	2
Wandsworth	L	19,692	20,350	21,174	20,506	24,216	3
Hammersmith & Fulham	L	22,960	23,787	22,672	23,077	23,817	4
Brighton & Hove	UA	18,090	18,642	20,075	21,213	23,420	5
Islington	L	10,381	13,732	15,532	19,111	20,514	6
Camden	L	24,869	24,468	25,228	26,751	19,599	7
Newham	L	7,202	7,327	7,692	8,886	18,977	8
Haringey	L	5,700	16,145	14,917	14,635	16,841	9
Hackney	L	8,219	10,758	12,920	14,505	15,613	10
City of London	L	5,569	5,881	5,264	6,549	14,383	11
Merton	L	7,015	7,226	6,681	10,227	12,279	12
Hounslow	L	7,814	7,655	7,196	11,972	12,243	13
Lambeth	L	7,219	9,683	9,942	11,923	12,143	14
Brent	L	8,310	10,506	7,954	10,534	11,870	15
Milton Keynes	UA	8,160	9,042	10,757	11,143	11,296	16
Birmingham	UA	7,756	9,699	9,816	11,129	11,183	17
Barnet	L	7,879	346	6,703	8,643	10,690	18
Tower Hamlets	L	8,318	10,038	9,479	9,504	10,591	19
Richmond upon Thames	L	7,040	6,328	7,462	8,262	9,815	20
Cornwall	UA	8,019	8,693	9,813	9,742	9,744	21
Bristol	UA	7,495	6,053	7,696	9,537	9,503	22
Manchester	UA	8,020	7,915	8,919	7,751	9,368	23
Newcastle upon Tyne	UA	6,296	6,643	7,269	7,465	8,541	24
Leeds	UA	6,894	7,213	6,635	7,793	8,425	25

Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said: “When totted up council parking income amounts to a multi-million-pound business.

“Our purpose in publishing this analysis is not to suggest the existence of any sharp practice, but to encourage motorists to seek out and read their own local authority’s annual parking report – and ask some pointed questions if their authority doesn’t publish one.

“We think it is important that motorists check for themselves whether their own council’s explanation of the level of charges, penalties and details of how the net income is then spent reflects, as it should, the use of parking controls purely as a tool to manage traffic.”

Find the full table of all English local authorities in A-Z order click here.