Row over parking permit ‘profits’

Opposition Liberal Democrat members of Sheffield Council published figures purporting to show that the council had made £803,826 during the first four months of 2013 from residents’ parking permits.

This compared to a £418,408 cost of operating the scheme.

When broadened out to a full 12 months, the Liberal Democrats said, this would have meant Sheffield Council bringing in annual profits of £1.16m through running the residents’ parking schemes.

Coun Shaffaq Mohammed, Lib Dem member for Broomhill, said: “Parking permit zones exist to address local parking problems, not to make a profit for the Town Hall.

“When Liberal Democrats controlled the council we slashed the price of parking permits.

“However, Labour bosses have driven up the charges year after year, despite the fact the scheme pays for itself.

“It’s simply not fair to ask local families to pick up a £1.2m tab.”

But yesterday, the Labour administration pointed out that the £803,826 figure cited by the Lib Dems included all income from pay and display and enforcement – not just from the purchase of parking permits.

A spokesman for the Labour group said: “The income from permits is £522,000 and the cost of providing the service is £1.25m, so there is no profit.

“If you go on the argument the Lib Dems are making, which includes enforcement and pay and display income, figures from the 2011/12 budget which the Lib Dems passed show a surplus of £870,000 – so their line of argument is ridiculous.”

Coun Leigh Bramall, member for business, skills and development, said yesterday: “The Lib Dems are yet again not telling the truth and trying to mislead people by comparing apples with pears.

“To be clear, the money raised from parking permits does not cover the cost of operating permit parking zones.

“What the Lib Dems are doing is adding other income to make it look like we are making profit from people who have permits but this is not the case.”

Coun Bramall went on: “If you look at the Lib Dem record on permit parking zones, they doubled the pay and display rates that people had to pay in 2011 and, after campaigning against a rise in the price of permits from £10 to £20, they did a U-turn and accepted it.

“Fundamentally, the Lib Dem-Tory Government are cutting council budgets massively and we are having to reduce the level of subsidy for permit parking zones, which is why the prices have been put back up to the 2010 levels.

“We do not want to do this but, if we didn’t, we would have to make further cuts to other services.

“The Lib Dems know this but are just trying to score cheap political points.”

There are numerous residents’ parking zones currently operating in Sheffield, which aim to make it easier for people to park close to their home in busy areas.

Zones operate not just in the city centre, but in busy student areas such as Broomhill and Crookesmoor; in areas close to the city’s two football grounds and elsewhere.

In most of the areas, a 12-month permit for residents costs £36.