Browse Sections
Interactive
Popular Sections
RainNews
| 
Submit Comments
advertisement
Parking wardens must fill financial shortfall
Karen Britton and Ben Turner2/ 7/2008
THE COUNCIL is banking on the new parking wardens to bring in the cash it needs this year.
Parking failed to raise enough money in the last financial year, but Macclesfield Borough Council officers said things are now looking up with a boost to income from the wardens that were rolled out in May.
A meeting of the Finance and Audit Committee heard that projections for 2008/09 would be met with money from the newly-opened Spring Street car park in Wilmslow as well as the parking enforcement.
A committee document from last October also revealed that the council was relying on the wardens to indirectly boost their coffers – something the council has always strenuously denied – to offset a sharp fall in car park takings since 2006.
The Performance Monitoring Committee report shed some light on where the extra cash would come from, saying that wardens "will have the effect of reducing illegal on-street parking and should result in greater use of the public car parks, thereby improving the revenue stream".
The number of Macclesfield car park users fell by more than 16,000 between 2006 and 2007, resulting in a £35,000 budget shortfall. But even with fewer customers, the council still made £502,875 in revenue.
Councillor Ainsley Arnold slammed the council for "cynically" increasing car parking charges earlier this year.
He said: "Car parks have always been looked at as a cash cow for the council and I think there has definitely been an element of profiteering in this.
"It was fairly obvious that the reason for putting car park prices up was that motorists were going to have to turn to them because of the decriminalisation of parking enforcement."
MBC parking enforcement manager James Howard, who insists wardens will be self-financing but nothing more, said wardens had not been brought in to make money, but it was "common sense" that they would increase car park income.
"I think you take it as read that if enforcement begins at a greater level you are going to get more people in car parks, but it was not the driving force behind it," he said.
A spokesman for MBC car parks added: "The decriminalisation was long planned and is a Cheshire-wide change.
"It is a broader policy and not linked to our income generation from car parking. From the start of the year we have a budget based on the previous year."
Most recent 2 of 4 user comments
Put yourself in there shoes for a moment, admit it, you'd do the same. Low hanging fruit, easy pickings, they would be fools not to.
4/07/2008 at 04:20
Got an opinion you want to share?| Card | BT Fee |
| Virgin Credit Card | 2.98% |
| Capital One BT Platinum Card | 3.0% |
| Egg Card | 3.0% |
| Tesco Bonus Credit Card | 2.9% |
| Capital One BT Exclusive | 3.0% |
| Company | Typical APR |
| Platinum Exclusive Loan | 7.5% |
| Moneyback Bank | 7.8% |
| Barclays | 7.9% |
| Sainsbury's Personal Loan | 8.5% |
| Halifax (Semi-exclusive) | 8.6% |
| Bank of Scotland (Semi-exclusive) | 8.6% |
| Alliance & Leicester | 8.7% |
| Provider | AER* |
|
ICICI BANK HiSAVE Savings Account |
6.16% |
|
SAINSBURYS FINANCE Internet Saver |
5.50% |
|
EGG BANKING PLC Egg Savings Account (Internet) |
6.55% |
|
ING DIRECT Savings Account |
6.50% |
|
TESCO PERSONAL FINANCE Internet Saver |
6.50% |
|
CITIBANK Flexible Saver Issue 4 |
6.43% |
|
ABBEY Instant Access Saver (Special Issue 2) |
6.30% |
|
ALLIANCE & LEICESTER eSaver - Issue 2 |
6.60% |
|
HALIFAX Web Saver Extra |
6.00% |
|
ABBEY eSaver Direct |
6.50% |
|
BRITANNIA BS DirectSaver Reserve Account |
6.25% |
17/07/2008 at 11:11