The eye-watering amount each Greater Manchester council has made from parking charges over the last year

Councils in England have raked in a staggering near £1 billion from parking charges over the last year according to Government figures.

The amount is now greater than pre-pandemic levels as local authorities earned a profit of £962.3 million in total between April 2022 and 2023. This was made up from £673.1m from on-street parking and £289.2m from off-street parking.

The previous financial year (2021-22), when lockdowns were in force, saw profits fall to £317.6m. In 2018-19, English councils enjoyed a surplus of £936.1m, made up of £572.5 million from on-street parking and £363.6m from their car parks.

Among them, councils in Greater Manchester have been boosting their budgets with money from parking, with one taking in over £10m last year and one council making an overall loss. The data includes parking fees and fines revenue, measured against costs such as staffing and day-to-day maintenance.

Councils set their own charges for parking in different areas of each borough, and there are some exceptions such as for blue badge holders. According to data from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, profits from parking charges around the region last year were as follows:

Jack Cousens, the AA’s head of roads policy, said: “Once again official statistics show that councils have turned parking into a huge cash cow, not just a service to stimulate local trade and support workers and visitors.

“While the covid fallout, such as people working from home, and the economic downturn are factors in the decline, hikes in parking charges by councils have contributed and helped to drive more shoppers online. In effect, many local authorities are killing the goose that lays the golden egg.”

Here we breakdown the numbers for each Greater Manchester council.