Councils in England made more than £411million from auto parking last year, according to government data. This is an boost of £53 million on the year before.
But while auto parking profits soared by 14.9 per cent, the amount of money spent by councils on road safety, education as well as risk-free routes to institution fell by 18 per cent, from £127.5m in 2011 to £105m last year.
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According to the figures, councils in the London area collected the most amount of money. Westminster council raked in £38m (up 8.7 per cent on the previous year) as well as Kensington as well as Chelsea saw a 31 per cent boost on 2011, rising to £27.5m.
Outside of London the biggest money-makers were Brighton as well as Hove council – collecting £13.7m for the year. Newcastle upon Tyne’s charges almost doubled to £6.2m between 2011 as well as 2012.
“Councils are making record-breaking profits from parking, while cutting road security costs on life-saving services such as, education for young drivers, cycle training, as well as risk-free routes to schools schemes,” a spokesperson from the Institute of advanced Motorists (IAM) said.
The regional government association (LGA) responded to the IAM’s criticism. “Councils spend billions of pounds a year on transport services as well as are currently facing general budget plan cuts of up to 33 per cent as well as a £442 million reduction in their Highways maintenance Budget,” a spokesperson said.
“This means they have far less to spend on roads as well as transport initiatives. Surpluses from auto parking revenue assist lessen the impact of these cuts as they must be spent on transport services,” he added.