More than £500,000 of taxpayers’ money was paid out by Wolverhampton City Council in one year on staff parking, new figures revealed today. The outlay is £100,000 more than was spent by Birmingham City Council.
The figures were revealed by the TaxPayers’ Alliance, which today hit out at Wolverhampton council chiefs for raising car parking charges while spending public money on free parking for 883 workers and councillors. The spending is on Civic Centre parking permits and reimbursing staff who park elsewhere.
Tory councillor Neville Patten, the city’s shadow transport spokesman, also criticised bosses for trying to encourage more people to use public transport while forking out huge sums for its own workers to park.
The Bushbury ward councillor said: “We have said time and again that too many spaces are being taken up by staff. The excuse is that staff only park on underused spaces, but you only have to look at the number of drivers who circle the city on a Saturday looking for a space to know that there is no such thing.
“When you look at Birmingham, it has significantly more councillors and staff, yet spends less money on parking permits.
“If Wolverhampton got the staff to car share or walk or use public transport, like they want everyone else to, it would not cost this much.”
TaxPayers’ Alliance campaign agent Fiona McEvoy obtained the figures under the Freedom of Information Act and found that Birmingham City Council spent £417,737 compared to Wolverhampton’s £518,000.
She said: “Ordinary taxpayers are having to fork out for increasingly expensive city centre car parking, and yet at the same time, council bureaucrats get to park up, right next to their offices, free of charge.”
Wolverhampton City Council’s human resources boss Councillor Milkinder Jaspal today promised an immediate review.
It now costs about 50p for 20 minutes’ parking in Bell Street, while a maximum two-hour stay in the St John’s and George Street areas was increased in 2006 from £2.40 to £3.
17 Comments
what a bunch of hypocritical thieves.
absolutely disgraceful.
Kick the whole lot out.
Another story that is posted without first checking the facts.
Most of the staff who have parking permits do so because they use their own cars to visit sites on Council business.
The alternative would be to provide a fleet of pool cars which would no doubt cost even more.
wHY SHOULD COUNCIL WORKERS RECEIVE FREE PARKING SPACES. DO COUNCIL WORKERS WHO TRAVEL ON PUBLIC TRANSPORT GET FREE BUS PASSES? WHY DO MOTORISTS THINK THEY ARE SPECIAL AND DESERVE TO BE TREATED BETTER THAN THE REST OF US. THEY SHOULD BE GLAD THEY CAN AFFORD TO BUY AND MAINTAIN A CAR, WHICH MANY PEOPLE CANNOT.
Question for Dobbo. Do these people claim mileage allowance for using their own vehicles on such visits and are they making these kind of visits every day?
do all 883 workers go out on site visits every day without fail? I find it very hard to beleive!
Yet another story highlighting the general incompetence and thievery of Wolves council. They are a disgrace.
I don’t give much credence to the Taxpayers Alliance. To say they are ‘economical with the truth’ is a huge underestimation. A manipulative bunch of Victor Meldrew’s who have nothing better to do with their time and want everything for nothing.
How have the TPA calculated these figures? Are the spaces in car parks ones the public can use? Have all councils calculated their figures in the same way? No mention of that in the TPAs report on their website or how it’s been worked out.
The TPA are the same lot who kicked up a fuss about council’s spending money on Christmas decorations!!! That’s the level of credibility you’re dealing. Cheap shots for cheap headlines.
Well folks, all I can say is..the majority voted them in. You elect a ‘read-only’ form of government and this is what you get: a complete waste of your money.
Well said Karen. I can’t see that all of the staff would be going out to other sites everyday. If they use their own cars they are probably getting a fortune in mileage allowance (and claiming extra more than likely) which would more than cover the cost for their parking. I bet they don’t declare to the insurance companies that they use their cars for work purposes. When I used to travel into the City Centre (from the M54 direction),a carpark was created on the old Eves nightclub land, this I seem to remember was empty most days bar the run up to Christmas. Why don’t the council use that for their staff and have a park and ride service for them, that would cost a lot less, it would also free up parking spaces in Wolverhampton which should hopefully encourage more people to shop in Wolverhampton, as it would be easier for people to park. Most people who work in Wolverhampton don’t have free parking so why should he council staff?
It is not all council staff who get free parking, as with most things in life it is only the managers and above. Joe Bloggs will have to pay like the rest of you - unless of course his job requires him to do a significant amount of traveling.
Why do council workers get free parking, but hospital staff oton have to pay for the priviledge of taking their cars to work?. I think this whole issue underlines where priorities lie in the current political climate and who is valued.
Do they pay tax on this perk. I think not
Give them a folding bicycle each and a bus pass. I bet that public transport and cycle friendly facilities would improve quickly along with their health and the use of our tax money
In response to Jimmy James, the TPA did not calculate any figures, these are directly from the councils concerned - and if you are not concerned, WHY NOT?
Taxes have doubled in the last 10 years and we have nothing to show for it, except horrendous waste and incompetence from local and national government.
If you are happy to keep paying for nothing then please go ahead. Personally, I would rather see my hard earned in my pocket and not some Bureaucratic collectivism.
You might want to check this in Wikipedia.
Neil,
A council official came to my home several years ago re neighbour noise he arrived in a taxi, on my asking him why he stated the council workers had refused to use their own cars because they had been refused a ten pence rise for petrol and mileage.
The same council official stated he was allowed £2,500-00 per annum by the council for using his own car i believe the mileage money he and his council colleagues were alreadt claiming was for 50 pence per mile and they wanted more. Name of this official is available:))
Allowances will be a lot higher now can’t tell you what as Chief Executive Brown refuses to release details:))
Hope this answers your question.
Get snouts out the trough party
14. Peter. In response, I am very concerned - it raises an important point. Why indeed should council officials receive free parking, especially when spaces should be used as income generation to lower council tax bills? I’m not in the least bit happy about my council tax doubling in ten years and seeing no difference in my local area. It is totaly wrong that council tax is used to subsidise a staff perk.
My beef is with verciferous single issue campaign groups, like the TPA. Outlandish claims can diminish the credibility of these important groups. Whilst I support fox hunting, The Countryside Alliance said tens of thousands of jobs would be lost if a ban was introduced. The dole queues up and down the land are hardly brimming with farm hands these days are they?
Looking behind attention grabbing headlines, we all know the old addage about lies and statistics - did one council include parking for teachers and another not? Who knows!
If £500k has been blown on staff parking, someone’s head at the civic needs to be rolled all the way down the Tettenhall Road!
I dare say there is a degree of truth in what the TPA are saying however, going on previous lobby group campaigns I’m now not sure how big the pinch of salt should be any more!
PS> Love the column.
I think some of your comments are unfair - you seem to stereotype Council Workers - yes there are some council workers who shouldnt be getting free parking spaces - those people should be investigated and told to get public transport (which they do not get for free). However lots of council staff do have to use their car everyday for business purposes and to serve vulnerable memebers of the community. Jobs such as surveyors, social workers, outreach officers - do generally as a rule go out on site every day.
Staff HAVE to take out business insurance if they use their car for business use, otherwise they risk not only losing their job but losing an insurance payout if they have an accident. And as for the mileage payment - in comparison for how much petrol is to the gallon at present - getting a measley 36p per mile is CRAP.
The people you should really be getting at are those at the top of the ladder who rarely move from their seats, but are allowed to have car parking spaces right under their noses, while the frontline staff who do the hard work have to fight to get a car parking space.