THE headlines 'Parking fines earn council £731k in one year' and 'Drivers paid £1m into town hall coffers - parking fines payout - (Bury Times, December 3) are misleading. They do not take account of the expenditure in running the parking service.
The contribution of £731,000 from car parking into the council's general fund in 2003-04 did not arise from parking fines. The figure is the net income (after expenditure) from pay-and-display parking fees for both off-street (£475,000) and on-street (£256,000) public car parks in Bury town centre. Expenditure includes for management of the car parking service, car park improvements, resurfacing and general maintenance, machine maintenance and cash collection, lighting, CCTV, etc, across all 64 of the borough's public car parks.
Net income from penalty charge notices (ie parking fines) under Decriminalised Parking Enforcement across the borough brought in £57,000, that is just under eight per cent of the income for parking fees.
These details were reported to the council's economy, environment & transport scrutiny commission on November 23, in line with good practice promoted by the independent National Parking Adjudication Service.
COUNCILLOR MIKE CONNOLLY,
Executive member for
environment & transport.
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