Dispute over parking revenue figures which claim £429k hike

However, the council has dispuited the accuracy of the foundation’s figures provided by the transport policy and research group, the RAC Foundation, which says the total for West Berkshire was more than £1.3 million, up from £890,000.
A spokesman for West Berkshire Council, Keith Ulyatt, said: “We don’t know where the RAC Foundation have got these figures from. Having looked at our own figures, they don’t square with their at all. There is nothing like the increase that they have stated.”
The RAC foundation said the data comes from the annual returns that councils make to the Department for Communities and Local Government.
The figures suggest that many councils are making record amounts from parking fines and penalty notices.
Although not all councils made a large surplus, very few lost money on their parking activities. Just 52 (15 per cent) of the 353 parking authorities in England reported negative numbers.
The figures are calculated by adding up income from parking charges and penalty notices, then deducting running costs.
Even after allowing for capital charges, the combined surplus in 2012-13 was still £460 million.
This is a 12 per cent increase on the £412 million figure for 2011-12.
The data comes from the annual returns that councils make to the Department for Communities and Local Government.
The authority with the largest surplus in 2012-13 was Westminster with £39.7 million.
Meanwhile the decision to approve on-street car parking in Newbury town centre is to be called in for further scrutiny.
West Berkshire Council’s member for highways and transport, Pamela Bale, (Con, Pangbourne) has approved plans to introduce parking bays on roads including Bartholomew Street (outside of the Pedestrian Zone), Broadway, Catherine Road, Cheap Street, Faraday Road industrial area (including Ampere Road, Fleming Road, Kelvin Road and Marconi Road), Kings Road West, Link Road, Newtown Road, Northbrook Street (outside of the Pedestrian Zone), Old Bath Road, Pelican Lane and West Mills.
However, the Liberal Democrat group has confirmed that it will be leading the charge against the approved plans and will demand that West Berksire Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Commission look at the issue again.
The council’s parking policy was called into doubt in September following claims that a consultation document advocated potentially illegal charges.
A similar scheme in Barnet, north London, resulted in a High Court defeat.
In the landmark ruling in August, Justice Beverley Lang stated that Barnet breached the law by increasing the cost of controlled parking zone permits in order to raise revenue.
Director of national motorists’ organisation the RAC Foundation, Stephen Glaister, said: “The law is explicit – parking charges are about managing congestion, not raising revenue.”