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East Yorkshire scores lowest English parking income as FSB reports price hike

A new study by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has revealed that East Yorkshire levies the smallest total parking charges of all English counties, while reporting that fees and fines have increased nationally by 10% in four years.

In a Freedom of Information request, the FSB asked all councils to detail their total income from parking, permit and penalty notice charges. In 2008 this was a cumulative £810 million, increasing to £884 million in 2011 (the latest year for which figures are available).

While East Yorkshire received parking revenue of just £2,740,388 in 2011, West Yorkshire nearly doubled that at £5,724,286, with South Yorkshire almost twice as much again (£9,920,494). Despite this, the west and south ‘ridings’ still come in at second and fourth respectively in the top five councils who take the least from motorists.

Not so with North Yorkshire, though, which raked in a whopping £20,217,330 - nearly ten times as much as its most modest neighbour.

Unsurprisingly London and Thames Valley took the most.

The FSB reports that it is an important issue for small businesses and believes there is a clear connection between protecting local high streets and the impact that parking charges can have. As such, it has released the findings at the start of Small Business Advice Week (2nd – 8th September).

Both the FSB and SBAW have called on local authorities to work closely with the business community and residents to get a more effective parking policy in place. They want to see business groups and central and local government join forces to discuss creative solutions to the parking issues faced by regions, with heavy parking charges used only as a last resort.

Simon Cliffe of Small Business Advice Week commented: “Local companies we’re in contact with cite the rising cost of parking as a key reason for a drop in footfall - which for so many of them is the lifeblood of their business. We want this to be a stark wake-up call; parking is not a factor businesses can control, which means it’s not fair, especially as the government is placing so much emphasis on SMEs getting the UK out of the economic slump. We want local authorities to work with organisations to make parking provision work.”

The FSB also supports the Mary Portas Review, launched in 2011. In an attempt to revitalise the high street, it gave eighteen recommendations to government, one of which suggested that “local areas should implement free controlled parking schemes that work for their town centres and should have a new parking league table.”

On Monday, she revealed to a House of Commons select committee that she doesn’t think it is a high priority for the prime minister.

John Allan, Federation of Small Businesses national chairman, said: “We know there is no such thing as free parking, but the local community needs to be able to tell authorities how its cost and availability affects their business. We know that budgets are tight, but we don’t want to see parking being used as a revenue grab.

“FSB experience shows that when parking charges are introduced many shops suffer. The recent idea to allow parking on double yellow lines was met with fierce criticism in some areas. We believe this shows the need for a wide debate on the issue and how localised it is. We want to see organisations and local authorities come together to discuss parking provision to make it work, not just for business, but for customers too.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by David Gatehouse .