Councils plunder £1.2 billion profits from car parking charges in 12 months
The amount councils generate from car parking has risen in the last year, making it an even bigger money-maker for local authorities
Councils are raking in hundreds of millions of pounds of profits per year from on- and off-street car parking, with critics saying this kind of “plunder” is down to a lack of restrictions on what authorities can charge motorists to park their cars.
The latest data from the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government shows that local councils in England generated a grand total of £2.3 billion from parking between April 2024 and March 2025 which, when taking into account running and maintenance costs, equates to an eye-watering £1.2 billion in profit.
As you might expect, it’s the London Boroughs that are the biggest offenders in this regard, alone generating over half a billion pounds in surplus. On-street parking accounted for the vast majority of this.
In fact, the likes of Westminster drew £90.6 million in profits from a £129.4 million total income, while Kensington and Chelsea took £63.2 million from drivers and thus made £49.7 million last year from parking.
Looking at the rest of England, Nottingham City Council reported £20 million in profits last year, with Manchester and Bournemouth having recorded £19.5 million and £17.1 million surpluses respectively.
Parking plunder spree
With overall profits having risen from just under £900 million prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and by roughly £150 million in the last year, the AA branded these latest figures as a “record parking plunder spree”.
The association’s head of roads Policy, Jack Cousens said: “For too many councils, particularly in cities, the cost of parking seems to have gone from a reasonable charge to a full-on local tax. Why? Because there is next to nothing holding them back.”
This being the case, Cousens accused councils of “creat[ing] new ways and reasons to plunder more money from people with cars, often on low incomes travelling in for work”.
All of this comes after the government announced a consultation on drafting a code of practice for the private parking sector. Such a document would not affect council-owned car parks, however, with little-to-no legislation dictating what local authorities can charge.
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