The council’s parking income fell last year for the first time in at least five years despite a rise in income from permits, parking meters, car parks and fines partly as a result of the contractor which collected money from parking machines going bust.
Its off street parking profits rose just 0.2% to £2.28m, while it’s on street parking profits fell fell 20% from £11.48m to £9.17m – partly down to a change in how much money its told to set aside in case parking fines are cancelled, but also due to Coin Co Internaitional (CCI) going bust owing the council £1.26m for that year.
And the total loss will also impact next year’s income, as the total debt was £3.2million, which CCI was able to rack up in part because the council failed to monitor cashflow closely enough.
Without the CCI loss, the income from on-street pay and display would have risen by 5.6% to £9.7m. Admin, appeals and debt maintenance costs also rose by £0.66m to £3m, further reducing the overall net income.
The council used the total £11.45m net income it made from on and off street parking to help pay for supported bus services, concessionary fares, other public transport costs and capital investment borrowing costs, which totalled £14.86m.
The figures are revealed in this year’s parking report, which also says almost one in four people now choosing to use the new Pay by Phone option, with 130,000 people now signed up.
The Pay by Phone initiative was itself prompted in part by the failure of CCI, as when it went bust it was forced to find another contractor, BDI Securities, which it is now paying £460,000 a year compared to the £300,000 a year CCI charged – even though half the on-street parking meters are being removed.
The report includes a foreward by Gill Mitchell, who writes: “The number of people choosing to pay for their parking by phone in the city has continued to grow from 10% of transactions last year to almost 25% this year.
“The service has also been expanded with over 150 PayPoint shops citywide also able to take payments for parking in cash at no additional cost. This helps reduced wear and tear on the city’s Pay and Display machines many of which are over ten years old and would otherwise need expensive replacement.”
She added: “There has been a slight increase in the number of Penalty Charge Notices issued compared to last year, although the numbers still remain at historically low levels. The small increase is largely due to the introduction of new parking schemes.”
The report, which the council’s environment, transport and sustainability committee is asked to approve on Tuesday, looks at all aspects of parking in the city in 2014/15.
During this time, 16 on-street bike parks, one secure cycle store and 139 pavement cycle stands have been built, providing a total of 568 new cycle parking spaces, funded by a mixture of council transport money, developer contributions and government grants.
