Southampton City Council generates £6M profit from parking charges
The Labour-run council says parking fees help manage demand
Just shy of £6million in profit was made from car parking charges by Southampton City Council.
The figures show that the local authority saw increases in both off-street and on-street revenues in 2024/25 to obtain an income of more than £13million before factoring in costs.
The Labour-run council said decisions on parking fees were based on location, demand, turnover and alternative options, as well as the financials.
Conservative opposition group leader Cllr Peter Baillie said the authority’s policies were “exceptionally short-sighted” and damaging for businesses.
Data released by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government revealed Southampton City Council’s net income after expenditure for off-street parking in the last financial year was £3.632million, while on-street parking brought in a surplus of £2.276million.
These totals were up from £3.599million and £1.67million, respectively, on the previous year.
The city council’s car parking income in 2024/25 , before taking into account any costs for employees and running expenses, was £13.230million.
Nationally, councils made £1.189billion in profit last year, with 54 per cent of the surplus coming from authorities in London.
A spokesperson for Southampton City Council said: “While the main reason for having parking charges is to manage demand, this does bring in revenue for the council.
“After costs are deducted, revenue from on-street parking is ringfenced for transport and highway uses, while off-street revenue goes into the council’s general fund.
“These figures are one factor in the decision making process alongside things like location, demand, turnover, and alternative options.”
Cllr Baillie said most of the parking was for shopping, businsses or people going to work.
He said: “The council’s line that they need money to support the highway network is shown to be an absolute fallacy.”
In April, the city council introduced new parking charges in district centre car parks.
The move to end free parking at 17 sites in Bitterne, Portswood, Shirley and Woolston in April attracted criticism earlier this year, with a petition launched by independent traders in Bitterne receiving more than 2,300 signatures.
The council said it would monitor and review the parking demand and footfall in the district centres for six months before conducting a review.
Cllr Baillie said: “The first thing they need to be doing is eliminating parking charges in the local district car parks to promote shopping and to encourage people coming into the city centre to help the businesses in the city centre.
“The policy at the moment appears to be let’s see how many businesses die and if too many die then we will possibly try to resuscitate the business patient, which is absolute madness of a policy, probably derived from the handbook of Rachel Reeves.”
The Harefield ward member added: “Their policies are exceptionally short-sighted.
“They are going to cause a lot of business closures and job losses and they are the absolute worst polices we can have in this particular economic climate, which is no doubt going to be made an awful lot worse after the November budget.”