Councils grab £8m in parking costs

Some councils in the Black Country and Staffordshire are losing hundreds of thousands of pounds on parking services, new figures reveal today.

Data from the Department of Communities and Local Government shows drivers in the area forked out almost £8.5 million in parking charges last year. But while some councils make a healthy profit from parking, others are losing tens of thousands of pounds every year. Wolverhampton City Council raked in nearly £3.1m from charges last year, making a profit of almost £1.2 million.

But in Sandwell just £1.8 million was brought in from car park charges, and once costs had been removed the council actually made a loss of £127,000.

The total amount collected in the region is up 12 per cent on the year before.

But the figures show that while car parking charges are a good earner for some councils, others rely on taxpayers to subsidise services.

The income came from parking services, including car parks, parking metres, resident permits and season tickets and fines.

After costs, including security equipment, the wages of traffic wardens and charges associated with operating and maintaining car parks, Wolverhampton still pocketed nearly £1.19m.

Lichfield made £1.1m, Stafford £685,000, Dudley 473,000, Wyre Forest £375,00 and Cannock Chase £311,000 last year to invest in local road improvements.

But Sandwell made a loss of £127,000, Walsall was £44,000 out of pocket and South Staffordshire re-corded a £54,000 loss.

Former transport minister and Warley MP John Spellar said the figures at least showed that some councils were not fleecing motorists.

He said: "The problem is that some councils use parking charges to create revenue, which is highway robbery.

"Councils have to enforce parking restrictions to regulate traffic, but not by ripping-off their residents."

Local authorities have been warned not to use parking enforcement as a tool for raising revenue.

Any revenue that is made from enforcement must be used by councils for parking, passenger transport, road and environmental improvement projects.