In an opinion piece for Local Government Chronicle (LGC) published on 30 October, the former director general of civil service reform at the Cabinet Office said that negative statements by the DCLG regarding how local authorities approach parking charges — including phrases such as “trigger-happy parking wardens”, “a war on motorists”, and “over-zealous, arbitrary, unfair behaviour” — have left her “deeply concerned”.
Some councils are using charges well and all are being asked to find new revenue streams, she said, but “neither the good practice nor the tough challenges are the mood music DCLG wants to sing.”
Responding to a written question earlier this year on statistics held by the DCLG about fixed penalty notices, junior minister Brandon Lewis wrote: “The most recent official statistics (for 2009-10) show that 9 million parking fines were issued a year by local authorities in England.”
He continued: “Councils in England were forecast to make £635 million net profit from parking charges fines in 2013-14. Yet legislation passed by Parliament is clear that parking charges and fines should not be used to raise general revenue. However, some councils are raising money illegally from parking.”
But Kerswell, who prior to her role in the Cabinet Office worked in local government for over 25 years, said: “The DCLG’s narrative suggests councillors and officers are out to make a profit from car parking charges for some other nefarious use. The truth is that any surplus is directed by law into specific activity under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984.”
Some councils, she acknowledged, have “approached the subject of car parking charges too narrowly”, with some not taking “sufficient account of the impact of small marginal changes to car parking charges on the economy of high streets.” However, she argued that “the DCLG shouldn’t pretend profiteers are charging up and down the nation’s avenues and cul-de-sacs.”