Income brought in by Calderdale parking charges took was down this much during the pandemic

Income brought in to a council by parking – which usually helps pay for its services at the rate of at least around £1 million a year  – dropped to a tenth of the usual amount during the first year of the Covid panedemic.
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Figures published by Calderdale Council show that in seven years of the preceding eight before 2020-21, between £1 million and £1.9 million a year was brought in from parking pay and display, penalty charge notices and other incomes once costs, including staff and equipment, were taken out.

Other incomes include parking permits, and money received for suspensions and car park closures.

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But in 2020-21, only a tenth of that figure was realised, say council figures published on its Data Works site.

Car parking in HalifaxCar parking in Halifax
Car parking in Halifax

The figures show that parking generated a surplus for Calderdale of £1,077,939 in 2012-13, £1,141,713 in 2013-14, £1,036,282 in 2015-16, £1,573,344 in 2016-17, £1,909,536 in 2017-18, £1,840,994 in 2018-19 and £1,982,051 in 2019-20 – increased costs in 2014-15 saw only £696,773 realised.

But in 2020-21, particularly due to reduced income from both on and off street pay and display parking, the council only realised £195,633 from parking.

Parking, along with Council Tax and Business Rates is one of the key ways councils can raise money to help pay for services and during this part of the pandemic in particular the reduced income contributed to pressures on the authority’s budget.

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In terms of income, between around £270,000 and £375,000 – the highest was 2019-20’s £375,134 – comes from the issue of on-street penalty charge notices in this period..

Off-street parking charge notices have brought in annual sums of between £64,000 and £110,000 – the highest being in 2014-15, but 2020-21’s contribution from this source was down to just under £39,000.

Staffing costs which include those for policing the parking system has cost less over the years the figures cover, peaking at £366,446 in 2014-15, the year of increased costs.

But in more recent years staffing costs have reduced, varying from £250,891 in 2018-19, and £274,277 in 2019-20 to £287,943 in 2020-21.

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The information is published by the council as part of the Local Government Transparency Code.

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