Local authorities in Scotland made a £33.6 million surplus or ‘profit’ from their parking activities in 2013/14, the last financial year for which data is available.
This is just higher than the previous year when the surplus was £33.4 million.
Data analysed by the RAC Foundation shows that between them, the 32 councils had a combined income from their parking activities – charges and penalty income from on- and off-street parking – of £73.3 million.
However the combined cost for councils of running their parking activities was £39.8 million.
Once these costs are subtracted from the income then the surplus (or deficit) is left.
Edinburgh had the biggest surplus (£15.3 million).
It was followed by Glasgow (£10.3 million) and Aberdeen (£5 million).
Between them these three local authorities generated 91% of the total net surplus in Scotland.
Of the 32 councils studied:
- 16 showed a surplus
- 2 did not provide parking accounts
- 14 broke even or showed a deficit
The analysis was carried out for the RAC Foundation by David Leibling. The data studied is that which is returned annually to the Scottish government by local authorities.
