Southend Council made £4.8 million profit on parking charges last year, a report has revealed.

The borough ranked number 20 in the top local authorities for generating surplus income from parking charges after costs are calculated.

Echo:

Going - Seaway car park

The RAC Foundation report ‘Local Authority Parking Finances in England’ revealed, in the last four years, car parking charges have generated 32 per cent more surplus for councils in England.

This amounted to a whopping £867 million in extra cash from on and off-street parking in 2017-18; a 6 per cent rise on the previous year.

Southend Council has made no secret of the fact that it will increasingly rely on parking revenue to help fill the gap with dwindling Government grants but it benefited from an 8 per cent increase in charges.

The borough earned £4.5million from parking revenue in 2016/17 rising to £4.8million in 2017/18.

The on-street parking surpluses must by law be used for transport projects. Seafront traders have increasingly called for cheaper parking to encourage visitors.

Philip Miller MBE owner of Adventure Island, said: “It is not for me to tell the council how to spend their surplus parking revenue.

"However, if you feel like I do that the town/High Street needs a boost I would create free two-hour parking for the side roads from Royal Terrace to Queens Road.

“Any shortfall could be replaced, in fact added to, by creating badly needed extra spaces in the seafront area.”

Paul Thompson, a member of Southend Seafront Traders’ Association, said: “Council officers have continually told councillors the council needs to reduce its reliance on parking income, and reduce car parking capacity by building on car parks such as Seaway.

"This huge surplus highlights the ‘folly’ of this stance.

“The council should invest in its existing parking stock, and increase capacity to drive future income growth. Multi storey car parks at Tyler’s and increasing seafront capacity are a must. Increased capacity is a license to print money.”

A Southend Council spokesman, said: “The surplus from parking fees is put back into highways works and road resurfacing programmes, in-line with the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984.

“Many of the towns or cities named in the release are also seaside resorts, and it is important to stress that our parking fees are in-line or below many other seaside locations.”