HAMPSHIRE councils raked in £41MILLION spent by you on parking in the county – in just one year.

The Daily Echo can today reveal that the county’s 14 councils made more than £20million of that money in profit thanks to parking charges and penalty notices over 12 months.

The staggering figures have been compiled by motoring organisation the RAC following an investigation into the money made from parking across the country.

Topping the chart in Hampshire is Southampton City Council who have made £7m in charges and penalty notices in 2013/14, with more than £4m of that profit.

It is closely followed by Portsmouth in second place and Winchester in third, having brought in £6.1m in charges and made a £3.7m profit.

Southampton City Council has been under fire for ending free night-time parking in the city centre but Labour council chiefs have announced a major review of on-street charges which could see some drop.

Daily Echo:

In the RAC’s report, Southampton comes in 23rd in the list of councils outside London for the amount of money raised.

The authority saw an increase annually over the past four years – earning £6.4m in 2009/2010, £5.7m in 2010/2011, £6.5m in 2011/2012 and £6.3m in 2012/2013.

But the city is a long way behind the UK’s highest-earning council, Westminster City, which made £80.6m.

The latest figures come just a month after the Daily Echo reported how University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust was also criticised for making more than £3m a year in charges at both Southampton General and Princess Anne hospitals.

Elsewhere in Hampshire, the RAC’s figures show Test Valley Borough Council made £1.2m profit in 2013/14, while Fareham Borough Council made £1.1m.

New Forest District Council brought in £2.7m through charges and penalties, with £1.2m of that profit, while Eastleigh Borough Council bagged a £1.3m profit on £2.5m of income.

The RAC Foundation’s director, Professor Stephen Glaister, said: “Parking profits seem to be a one way street for councils having risen annually for the last five years. Yet over the same period spending on local roads has fallen about a fifth in real terms.

“We understand the pressures councils are under with their overall income still falling and the level of services they have to provide in such areas as social care rising rapidly.

“The bottom line is that parking policy and charges must be about managing traffic not raising revenue.”

A spokesman for Southampton City Council said: “The council is not the major provider of off street parking in the city.

“Income from the car parks goes directly into the general fund to fund essential council services.”

They added that surplus from on-street parking charges and penalties is ring-fenced and is spent supporting services like parking and enforcement services, investing in infrastructure and maintenance, and other transport initiatives.

A spokesman for Test Valley Borough Council said the authority looks at its parking charges with other neighbouring councils and believed it was generally among the cheapest in Hampshire.

Saying the council has frozen parking charges for 2014/15 and is set to again next year, they added: “The income from car parking ranks fourth or fifth in the main revenue streams.

“It helps to provide the parking service and contributes to the overall costs of running the council.”

Winchester City Council said its parking fees had not increased for several years, adding: “The difference between the cost of running specific elements of the service and the amount generated by parking fees is not ‘profit’. “It is public money - income that can be used by the council to keep down council tax and still provide quality services.”

New Forest District Council said it too had not increased parking fees and it represented “good value for money” for people parking – and said the increase in money they made showed that more people were choosing to visit the area.

A spokesman said: “At just 40p a week, one of our short stay parking clocks allows three hours of parking in all town centre car parks on as many occasions as the user wishes.

“The increase in income for the council from parking charges and enforcement reflects the fact that more people are choosing to visit areas of the UK such as the New Forest rather than travel abroad.”

Fareham Borough Council couldn’t say exactly how it spends the money it makes but it was “generally used against traffic related services locally”.

Daily Echo:

Income from parking charges in 2013/14

  • Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council - £2,462,000
  • East Hampshire District Council - £1,503,000
  • Eastleigh Borough Council - £2,571,000
  • Fareham Borough Council - £2,795,000
  • Gosport Borough Council - £719,000
  • Hampshire County Council - £96,000
  • Hart District Council - £1,120,000
  • Havant Borough Council - £1,495,000
  • New Forest District Council - £2,730,000
  • Portsmouth City Council - £6,692,000
  • Rushmoor Borough Council - £3,412,000
  • Southampton City Council - £7,038,000
  • Test Valley Borough Council – £2,491,000
  • Winchester City Council - £6,105,000

TOTAL - £41,229,000

 

Profit – parking charges and penalty notices minus cost of running the service in 2013/2014

  • Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council - £1,117,000
  • East Hampshire District Council - £947,000
  • Eastleigh Borough Council - £1,385,000
  • Fareham Borough Council - £1,098,000
  • Gosport Borough Council - £408,000
  • Hampshire County Council - £96,000
  • Hart District Council - £395,000
  • Havant Borough Council - £438,000
  • New Forest District Council - £1,210,000
  • Portsmouth City Council - £2,232,000
  • Rushmoor Borough Council - £1,518,000
  • Southampton City Council - £4,245,000
  • Test Valley Borough Council – £1,198,000
  • Winchester City Council - £3,734,000

 TOTAL - £20,021,000