Kirklees Council has raked in £2m from parking fees – but it is still a long way from being one the biggest earning councils.
New figures have revealed the council made £200,000 more in 2016/17 from parking fees and penalty charges, than the previous year.
It is thought the jump in income includes the cash generated by the bus gates.
Despite the hike – an extra £547 per day – and being the eleventh largest council in terms of population, Kirklees ranks only 103rd in the parking profits league table – up one place from last year.
Kirklees’ millions pale in comparison next to the riches earned from parking by some other areas.
In London, Westminster City Council made a stunning £73m while Kensington and Chelsea enjoyed a £32m windfall.
The biggest profits outside of London were reported by Brighton & Hove (£21.2m), and Milton Keynes and Birmingham (£11.1 million each).
Kirklees’ near neighbours Leeds made £7.8m, Calderdale £1.7m, Bradford £2.7m and Wakefield £1.3m.
Some £819 million was generated from the on and off-street parking activities of the 353 local authorities in England during the financial year, research found.
It represents a 10% leap on the 2015/16 surplus of £744 million.
The figure was calculated by taking income from parking charges and penalty notices and then deducting running costs.
Some of the extra profit in Kirklees may be from savings made through a new mobile payment contract.
The council changed suppliers from ‘ Pay-By-Phone ‘ to ‘Ring Go’ on April 1, 2016.
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.
“We welcome the fact that councils are increasingly investing in technology to help make parking easier and less stressful. Westminster, for example, has created an app which directs drivers to free parking bays, helping to end the motoring misery of prowling the streets looking for a space.
“We urge motorists to take the time to read their own local authority’s parking report so they can see both the rationale for charges in their area and how the surplus is being spent.”
A Kirklees Council spokesperson said: “The amount of money generated through parking charges and penalty charge notices fluctuates year on year dependant on a number of factors including customer behaviour.
“Any surplus income generated is used to further improve services and infrastructure for the people of Kirklees.”
