Free parking hits council funds

CAR parking revenue in Oldham has suffered a £400,000 hit because of the council’s free parking gestures.

Total annual earnings fell from £1.3 million in 2010-11 to just over £900,000 in 2012-13. Much of the drop has been caused by free parking to boost town centre trade.

The scheme, offering three hours of free parking at weekends, was tested over last Christmas then extended to every weekend. Shoppers are get a half-hour’s free street parking at any time.

Details revealed through a freedom of information request showed overall revenue of the highest-earning car parks in the borough for the five years from 2008 to 2012 was £6,007,535 — the Civic Centre car park alone earning £1.2 million.

Among the other high earners were the Clegg Street car park, collecting £906,617, and on-street parking earned £867,315.

Councillor Shoab Akhtar said: “This shows the council hasn’t relied on car parking to boost the budget.”