£2million raked in from Gloucester car parking charges
MORE than £2 million a year is being collected from Gloucester City Council car parks – almost £6,000 a day.
Figures obtained by The Citizen under the Freedom of Information act show that of the £5,877.75 collected each day, most comes from the Eastgate Shopping Centre.
Westgate Quarter Traders' Association chairman Ivan Lloyd believes charges should be cut to help boost trade.
"If the car parks are profitable, the council should reduce charges," he said. "I would like to see them lower the cost of parking for up to two hours (currently £2)."
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Mr Taylor said if this was slashed to £1 it would encourage more people to shop in Gloucester.
He said the council had gone in the 'right direction' by making parking free after 6pm, but feels more could be done.
"I would also like to see cheaper tariffs between 2pm and 6pm when the car parks are usually quieter.
"If they did that, more people would use the car parks at those times and their income could actually go up."
From April 1, 2011 and March 31, 2012, a total of £2,139,502.78 was collected from the 14 council-run car parks.
The council has since relinquished control of St Oswald's and taken on the management of spaces at the Southgate moorings at Gloucester Docks.
It also manages GL1 Leisure Centre car park, but charges go back into GL1 running costs.
Gloucester City Council leader Paul James said: "We have reduced charges substantially over the last few years and keep them constantly under review.
"The car parks don't make a huge amount of profit, but it all goes back into the general council funds used to run services and keep council tax low."
4 Comments
by TimMessanger
Thursday, January 24 2013, 1:57PM
“Beekeeper - Could not agree more, the idiots that park on the pavements etc in the pedestrian zone aught to be ticketed but the CEOs don't work at night, maybe the police should be given the power to issue tickets to discourage this antisocial behaviour!”
by Beekeeper
Thursday, January 24 2013, 11:55AM
“Surely this shows that the fines are not enough to deter motorists from parking illegally. The level of fines must be increased to control their anti-social behaviour.”
by QuedgeleyGuy
Thursday, January 24 2013, 9:21AM
“Either give some free parking or dedicate the dosh to repairing the city's roads.
Another thing that would go a long way to make people think the council cares would be to make that stupid bridge with the camera available to light traffic.”
by BishopHooper
Thursday, January 24 2013, 7:56AM
“If they are making that much money, they should reduce the costs to enourage people back into Gloucester city center, The Council should not be using motorists as a cash cow.
I'm sure all shop owners in Gloucester would welcome a drop in parking fee's as would all shoppers.... Come on Council, help ENCOURAGE shoppers back into the city by reducing parking fees, rather than fleecing them.”