West Norfolk council reports £3.1m profit from parking charges last year

Overall the borough council gained £3.1 million from both off-street and on-street parking last year, according to recent figures from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

The area follows a nationwide trend – English councils made a combined profit of £930 million from their parking activities in 2018/19.

It is a 7% increase from the £867 million councils made in 2017-18 and a 41% increase on the £658 million made in 2013-14.

The 353 local authorities who reported their figures to central government received a total income of £1.746 billion from their on- and off-street parking operations in 2018-19 – including £454 million from penalties, 6% higher than the £428 million in the previous financial year.

The RAC Foundation also ranked King’s Lynn and West Norfolk at 73 out of 353 local authorities for amount of profit generated.

Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said:

“Penalties now seem to account for nearly half of all on-street parking income.

“What will surprise drivers is that even as parking income soars, the amount of money being spent on routine road maintenance by councils has been in reverse.”