BURY Council makes more money from parking operations than any other Greater Manchester borough outside of the city centre, it has been revealed.

The surplus produced by parking charges and penalty notices – after deducting running costs – in council car parks in Bury last year was £1.23m.

In contrast, councils in neighbouring boroughs Bolton and Rochdale made £453,000 and lost £65,000 respectively. Manchester recorded a surplus of £8.92m.

The data comes from the statutory annual returns that the council makes to the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Revenue produced from parking charges and fines are ring-fenced, meaning Bury Council will reinvest all the money on transport-related activities in the town.

A spokesman for the RAC Foundation said although the figures might seem “eye-wateringly large”, in part they simply reflect the growing competition for space as more cars are now on the roads.

“Parking charges are one of the tools councils use to keep traffic moving while also allowing people reasonable and affordable access to high street shops and other facilities,” added the spokesman.

A Bury Council spokesman said that any income from parking charges and fines contributes to other transport costs and highways maintenance in the borough.

The spokesman added: “This is in accordance with the Traffic Management Act 2004, which allows the excess to be used for further traffic and parking schemes, public transport services, highway or road improvement projects or for environmental improvement in the area.”

Across England, money raised from council parking operations in the financial year 2015-16 reached a record high of just over three quarters of a billion pounds.

The 353 English local authorities generated a combined profit of £756 million from their parking activities,This is a nine per cent leap on the 2014-15 figure of £693 million, and 34 per cent higher than five years ago.

The largest surpluses were seen in London with the 33 London boroughs making £332 million between them – 44 per cent of the English total.

Westminster had the largest surplus in England (£55.9 million) followed by Kensington & Chelsea (£34.2 million) and Camden (£25.2 million).

The biggest profits outside of London were reported by Brighton & Hove (£20.1 million) followed by Nottingham (£13.6 million) and Milton Keynes (£10.8 million).

YOUR SAY

Brian Proffitt, aged 82, said: “I’m a blue badge holder so it doesn’t affect me directly, but for those who do have to pay it is not unreasonable if the money goes back into the same 
services.
“I think the issue of hospital parking is a much bigger concern, but I suppose that’s another 
story.”
Keith Vernon, aged 57, said: “I don’t think the prices are excessive, but I’d like to see a return to the old system where you were allowed 15 minutes free.
“For example, I’ve just dropped my daughter off and now I’ll go into the bank.
“I’ll be done and out of the way in less than 15 minutes, but I still have to pay.”
Steve Anslow, aged 67, is also a blue badge holder, but his partner is not. 
He said: “It’s a bloody disgrace, Bury is half the size of Bolton but the council is making twice the profits.
“The charges are too high and also I think many people are parking in blue badge spaces and are not being punished.”
Waqas Mahmood, aged 30, said: “Parking costs are too high in the town centre, it’s a joke.
“In Rochdale a lot of parking in the town is free, why can’t we do that here?
“They are losing people from the town centre like me, because now if I need to go to the bank or something like that I will go to Rochdale instead.”