These councils have made the biggest profits from parking fees and fines

Councils across England made record millions from parking fines and fees last year (In Pictures Ltd./Corbis via Getty Images)

English councils made a record £819 million “profit” through parking fees and fines last year – with London boroughs leading the way.

The largest surpluses saw the 33 London boroughs making £379 million between them – 46% of the English total.

Westminster generated the biggest profit margin in England at £73.2 million, up 31% on the previous year.

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Kensington & Chelsea came second with £32.2 million (down 6%) and Camden with £26.8 million (up 6%).

Local authority	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	Ranking by 2016-17 surplus
	£,000s (Except all English councils total which is in millions)
Westminster	39,705	51,037	46,426	55,875	73,191	1
Kensington & Chelsea	30,437	33,512	32,997	34,237	32,174	2
Camden	23,531	24,869	24,468	25,228	26,751	3
Hammersmith & Fulham	19,395	22,960	23,787	22,672	23,077	4
Brighton & Hove	16,254	18,090	18,642	20,075	21,213	5
Wandsworth	15,887	19,692	20,350	21,174	20,506	6
Islington	8,216	10,381	13,732	15,532	19,111	7
Haringey	5,213	5,700	16,145	14,917	14,635	8
Hackney	7,756	8,219	10,758	12,920	14,505	9
Hounslow	6,407	7,814	7,655	7,196	11,972	10
Lambeth	12,004	7,219	9,683	9,942	11,923	11
Milton Keynes	6,668	8,160	9,042	10,757	11,143	12
Birmingham	6,869	7,756	9,699	9,816	11,129	13
Brent	2,666	8,310	10,506	7,954	10,534	14
Merton	6,868	7,015	7,226	6,681	10,227	15
Cornwall	8,078	8,019	8,693	9,813	9,742	16
Bristol	4,222	7,495	6,053	7,696	9,537	17
Tower Hamlets	7,000	8,318	10,038	9,479	9,504	18
Newham	8,163	7,202	7,327	7,692	8,886	19
Barnet	813	7,879	346	6,703	8,643	20
ALL ENGLISH COUNCILS	£587m	£658m	£683m	£744m	£819m

The biggest profits outside of London were reported by Brighton & Hove (£21.2 million), and Milton Keynes and Birmingham (£11.1 million each).

The RAC Foundation research shows that in 2016-17, the 353 local authorities in England had a total income from on- and off-street parking activities of £1.582 billion – up 6% year-on-year.

This comprised both parking charges (fees and permits) and penalty income.

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At the same time, the councils spent £763 million on running their parking operations – up 2% year-on-year.

The difference between income and expenditure – £819 million – is the surplus or ‘profit’ available to be spent on transport locally.

That is 40% higher than the £587m generated just four years ago.

London boroughs led the way for profits generated through parking fines (Scott Barbour/Getty Images)

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.”

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Many motorists caught out by a traffic warden or getting fined for overstaying their stint in the town centre car park for a couple of minutes will no doubt be angry at the level of money generated through parking fees.

But Gooding added: “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.”