PARKING charges and fines in Derby have earned the city council more than £1.6 million in a year – but the authority says all the cash has gone back into improving the city's highways and transport.
The £1,672,000 sum is the amount that the authority made after deducting its costs for running the city's parking in the 2011-12 financial year.
It is an increase of £95,000 on the previous 12 months, according to new RAC Foundation figures.
They show that the authority has the 91st highest "surplus" it gathered through parking charges, out of 358 authorities surveyed.
David Gartside, city head of traffic and transportation, said that "any surplus income generated by the council from parking is used to improve our highways and transport systems".
He said: "Derby City Council manages and controls parking to ensure that our roads are safe and that congestion is minimised.
"We provide on-street and off-street parking for the benefit of residents, business organisations and visitors.
"Our car parks offer customers a choice of both location and cost."
He added: "Within the city centre and across the city there are many parking locations which are operated and managed by other organisations, giving motorists a real choice about how and where they park."
The new figures also showed the costs for on-street and off-street parking at Derbyshire Dales District Council came close to the city's total, taking £1,538,000 in 2011-12.
That was up £101,000 from the previous year but the council said the revenue was a key part of its budget.
Councillor Lewis Rose, the district council's leader, said: "The Derbyshire Dales attracts 6.9 million visitors each year and car park charges help fund much-needed public services in the district and keep council taxes down to just 50p per day on average for our households.
"The funds from car parks are a much-needed source of income for Dales services in these times of austerity, especially as we receive less Government cash than any other area of Derbyshire.
"To put the figure into perspective, it costs the council £1.8 million to run the four leisure centres in our main towns.
"The good news for our residents is that we were a pioneer in providing free permits that allow local people to park without charge in our car parks 19 hours every day."
Other councils took far less in Derbyshire, with Amber Valley Borough taking £254,000; Derbyshire County, £125,000; and Erewash Borough, £364,000, in 2011-12.
Only South Derbyshire District Council operated at a loss, making a £65,000 deficit.
Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, said: "For many local authorities, parking charges are a nice little earner.
"Not all authorities make big sums. Several run a current account deficit and indeed of those with surpluses many will see the money vanish when capital expenditure is taken into account.
"But the bottom line is that hundreds of millions of pounds are being contributed annually to council coffers through parking charges and the drivers who are paying them have a reasonable expectation to see the cash spent on improving the roads."
