A major review of parking in York could be launched – as council data reveals the local authority made nearly £1 million from residents’ permits last year.
City of York Council made almost £5.4m from parking last year – including revenue from its car parks and fines as well as residents’ parking.
And the Government announced today that York will receive £100,000 to revolutionise its parking and traffic systems.
Cllr Andy D’Agorne, the new executive member for transport, has called for a review of the Respark system in York and said the cash made from permits should be passed back on to residents and their visitors in the form of lower charges.
He said:
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I have indicated that I want a residents’ parking review. I want that to be brought forward as soon as we can, so we can look at how it relates to parking across the city.
I still haven’t given up on a review of the price of Respark by any means, especially now it’s something I now have more control over. But we need to have all the data to make sure there are no unintended consequences.
The Respark system has grown and grown. It may well be time to say do we need different zones and different prices.
Last November Cllr D’Agorne called for the cost of permits to be cut.
Money reinvested
Tony Clarke, head of transport at the council, said:
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There has been an increase in parking revenue over the past year due to wide range of factors, including an inflationary price increase.
Other contributory factors include the use of Castle car park as an open air event space in 2018 which attracted visitors to the city, during which time the assumed loss in parking income was offset by the event promoter.
We have also seen an increase in the number of resident parking zones which inevitably leads to more permit revenue.
He added that better weather over the winter also helped boost parking income.
The Department for Transport has announced York is one of 11 councils set to receive funding to use data from vehicles to ease traffic and modernise parking.
The council will get £100,000 from the Government – the highest amount awarded to any local authority – to develop apps to show drivers where there is a parking space available, show journey times and provide live signal information.
A spokesman for the DfT said the money will be used to improve data on vehicles so that it can be shared with government and private organisations to develop new technology.
They added that making it easier for drivers to find a parking space could “ease congestion”.