Calderdale Council makes £1.7m from parking charges

The figure for the 2016-2017 financial year is the highest in the last five years, and an increase on the £1.2m from 2015-16.

The figure in 2014-15 was £889,000, in 2013-14 it was £1m and in 2012-13 it was £1.1m.

The latest figure puts the council 118th out of the 353 areas surveyed by the RAC Foundation.

Their results represent income from parking charges and penalty notices with running costs deducted.

Calderdale Council’s Head of Highways, Steven Lee, said: “The figure of £1.7m does not only relate to money raised through parking charges. The figure is from our annual accounts and covers the whole parking service in 2016/17 - in other words, revenue from things like parking charges, fines, permits, contracts, rent and event management, minus all service costs.

“Calderdale Council uses revenue from parking charges to help cover the cost of keeping car parks well maintained, safe and clean. Any surplus income is used for highways schemes - for instance maintaining and improving roads and keeping drivers and pedestrians safe.

“Parking charges in Calderdale are low when compared to other nearby towns and cities. We’ve looked carefully at tariffs right across Calderdale, with charges reducing in some areas and increasing in others. This is to ensure that the charges reflect the individual requirements of each town.”

English councils made a record £819 million from their parking operations in the last financial year.

The figure for 2016-17 is 10 per cent higher than the £744 million made in the previous financial year.

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.”