Record parking fine profit for councils

Do you live in one of the council areas raking in the most cash from on and off-street parking?

Excess money from fines and charges goes towards local transport projects

English councils have raised a record £819m from parking fines and charges over the last year – a 10% increase on last year, a RAC study shows.

The boost in funds raised from parking activities is believed to be down to a record number of cars and increased traffic on our roads.

The motoring research charity looked at money taken by the 353 local authorities in England during the 2016/17 financial year.

Councils are using technology to speed up the parking process

London topped the parking surplus list, with Westminster raising an additional £73.2m followed by Kensington and Chelsea who had a £32.2m surplus and Camden coming in third with £26.8m left in their pocket after expenses.

Outside of the capital, Brighton and Hove took £21.2m, followed by Milton Keynes and Birmingham at £11.1m each.

There is a silver lining to all the extra cash being paid out by motorists to pay for parking, with most councils using the surplus money raised to fund local transport projects.

The RAC said residents should look up their local authority's parking report to see how their surplus is being spent.

Last year £744m was raised over the same period.

As technology is increasingly used to help collect parking charges, Westminster has even developed an app to alert drivers to free parking bays.

With parking spaces increasingly in demand, earlier this month, a parking space in St Ives, Cornwall, sold for £40,000.

A national £12b roads repair backlog in the UK means that councils won't have to look far for projects in which to invest their pot of surplus funds.

Top 20 Council parking money-pots:

1. Westminster (£73.2m)
2. Kensington and Chelsea (£32.1m)
3. Camden (£26.8m)
4. Hammersmith and Fulham (£23.1m)
5. Brighton and Hove (£21.2m)
6. Wandsworth (£20.5m)
7. Islington (£19.1m)
8. Haringey (£14.6m)
9. Hackney (£14.5m)
10. Hounslow (£12.0m)
11. Lambeth (£11.9m)
12. Milton Keynes (£11.1m)
13. Birmingham (£11.1m)
14. Brent (£10.5m)
15. Merton (£10.2m)
16. Cornwall (£9.7m)
17. Bristol (£9.5m)
18. Tower Hamlets (£9.5m)
19. Newham (£8.9m)
20. Barnet (£8.6m)