Increased parking charges help bring in £1m surplus to Calderdale Council

The charges – approved last November for some parking in parts of Halifax, Hebden Bridge and Brighouse - have been controversial, with campaigns against some of the increases.

End-of-year financial out-turn figures for 2024-25 being presented to Calderdale Council cabinet members show the increases have helped generate the £1.05 million surplus.

“Both on-street and off-street parking income have over-achieved on their income targets,” says the report to councillors.

Within the context of the council’s budgeting for the Neighbourhoods section of the Public Services directorate, this has helped limit overall overspends – £3.1m over budget by the end of the year.

One of the reasons for the overspend is the increasing amount of money - £1.2m over budget – the authority has had to spend maintaining Calderdale’s roads, says the report to councillors.

The overspend is largely due to increasing workloads and also costs due to appointing contractors to cover vacancies and rising prices for materials, plant and diesel, it explains.

The other big contributors to the Neighbourhoods budget deficit are a £1.3m overspend on providing transport for increasing numbers of children qualifying for special educational needs and disabilities provision, and increased waste management costs.

Councils have to provide transport that is suitable for a child whose are plans require it.

“The increased use of SEN-planned taxis for pre-16s is putting immense pressure on budgets and the total spend was £1.59m compared to 2023-24 total spend of £1m,” says the report.

In terms of waste management, a £1.8m overspend is mainly due to extending operator Suez’s contract – due to end in a year’s time, when the council is set to enter a partnership to deliver the services.

“There is a gap in the budget for refuse contract collection of £1.5m and for waste disposal of £300,000,” according to the report.

The out-turn figures are among those broken down in the report to Cabinet for 2024-25, with reserves having to be used to fill a £9.2m revenue – day-to-day spending – overspend across all directorates for the year.