By Richard Johnstone | 28 July 2014
Councils have defended their use of parking charges after a poll of drivers by the motoring organisation the RAC found that four in ten drivers think councils are using this revenue to subsidise other services.
A poll of 1,500 drivers was included in the RAC’s Report on Motoring 2014, published today.It found that 41% believe the local authority where they live used revenue from parking charges to subsidise areas of non-motoring expenditure, which is against the law.
The report highlighted that councils in England are estimated to have made a £594m surplus from their on- and off-street parking operations in 2012/13. This money is meant to be re-invested in road improvements, but the RAC said drivers feel ‘trapped between ever-increasing parking charges as some local authorities seek to raise extra revenues from parking to fill gaps in other areas of their budgets’.
However, a Local Government Association spokesman insisted this was ‘not a true reflection of the reality of parking in our communities’.
He added: ‘Councils remain on the side of hard-pressed motorists by keeping a lid on parking charges which are only set to rise with inflation this year. Councils have to try and strike a balance when setting parking charges to ensure there are spaces available for everyone at all times of the day.
‘Parking charges are essential to help councils keep traffic flowing and pedestrians and motorists safe. On-street parking revenue is spent on paying for parking services. Any surplus is spent on essential transport projects, such as tackling the £12bn roads repair backlog and creating new parking spaces.’
The RAC report also found the proportion of drivers concerned about potholes and the state of local roads had increased from 36% last year to 41% in 2014.
In addition, two-thirds of drivers (66%) believed local roads have been neglected by councils and had deteriorated over the last 12 months.
As a result, the survey found more than a third (36%) of motorists said they would willingly pay more motoring tax if the additional funds generated were ring-fenced to go back into improving local roads.
