English local authority ‘surpluses’ on parking operations rose 10% in the last financial year to hit a new record £819m.

Council parking profits hit new record

The profits – from both parking charges and penalty income – compare to £744m in the previous financial year and are 40% higher than the £587m made in 2012-13.

The figures come from analysis for the RAC Foundation of the official returns that councils make annually to the Department for Communities and Local Government, which show that in 2016-17, the 353 local authorities in England had a total income from parking operations of £1.6bn – up 6% year-on-year – compared to an outlay of £763m – up 2% year-on-year.

Once again the largest surpluses were seen in London with the 33 London boroughs making £379 million between them – 46% of the English total. However, a total of 46 (13%) councils reported negative numbers.

Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said: “The upward path in profits is in part a reflection of the record number of cars and volume of traffic.

“The silver lining for drivers is that these surpluses must almost exclusively be ploughed back into transport and as any motorist will tell you there is no shortage of work to be done.”