Nine London councils in top 10 UK ‘richest parking councils’

Brighton and Hove council was the only council outside of the capital. Is London too expensive to park.

Transcript

00:00Nine London councils have been named in a new rich list, but it's not about property

00:07or salaries, it's about parking.

00:10According to Freedom of Information data, Wandsworth topped the chart for the highest

00:15income from residents' parking permits, generating £38.2 million between 2020 and 2024.

00:23Kensington and Chelsea came in second, followed by Brighton and Hove, the only council outside

00:29of London to make the top 10.

00:32The figures compiled by used retailer Cinch highlighted how controlled parking zones have

00:39gone up in recent years.

00:41These were introduced to prevent residents from parking in local streets, but now mean

00:46that residents have to pay a privilege to park outside their home.

00:53So how do Londoners feel about the cost of permits and car parks and the way drivers are treated

00:58in the capital?

01:00I think motorists generally are victimised, and I think local authorities and other like

01:07private car parking do take advantage of the motorists.

01:11I used to be a motorist, I no longer have a car, so I'm not affected in that way.

01:16But I do think that motorists generally are exploited.

01:22And I personally think that car parking charges are too expensive.

01:27I think there probably needs to be some flexibility.

01:30I don't think it does incentivise people to use public transport, because the people who

01:34are being squeezed for like parking fees and so forth are people who are already like they

01:37already work with automobiles as a standard or whatever.

01:40Like the automobile lobby or whatever is always in favour of reducing fees, reducing ULAs, reducing

01:46like payments and stuff like that.

01:48I don't think it's very likely that a lot of them are going to move out of their cars.

01:52And I think that the people who need to make use of cars are very often the ones who are

01:55being targeted the most.

01:56It's to the disadvantage of local businesses.

01:59Across the UK, councils bought in nearly £360 million from residents parking charges over

02:09the last four years.

02:10And that's only from the 128 local authorities that responded to the survey.

02:16The actual total is likely to be higher.

02:19Islington, Hackney, Haringey, Lambeth, Waltham Forest, Brent and Tower Hamlets also featured in

02:25the top ten, making it clear that this is very much a London-led trend.

02:30Now, Wandsworth Council responded to the figures, saying it has frozen permit costs this year

02:36to ease the burden on residents.

02:38It added that any surplus is reinvested into local services, including maintenance and free

02:43transport for older and disabled people.

02:46Still though, with the cost of living continuing to rise, the role of parking charges in daily

02:53expenses, especially for drivers, is becoming harder to ignore.