Brighton and Hove council was the only council outside of the capital. Is London too expensive to park.
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00:00Nine London councils have been named in a new rich list, but it's not about property
00:07or salaries, it's about parking.
00:10According to Freedom of Information data, Wandsworth topped the chart for the highest
00:15income from residents' parking permits, generating £38.2 million between 2020 and 2024.
00:23Kensington and Chelsea came in second, followed by Brighton and Hove, the only council outside
00:29of London to make the top 10.
00:32The figures compiled by used retailer Cinch highlighted how controlled parking zones have
00:39gone up in recent years.
00:41These were introduced to prevent residents from parking in local streets, but now mean
00:46that residents have to pay a privilege to park outside their home.
00:53So how do Londoners feel about the cost of permits and car parks and the way drivers are treated
00:58in the capital?
01:00I think motorists generally are victimised, and I think local authorities and other like
01:07private car parking do take advantage of the motorists.
01:11I used to be a motorist, I no longer have a car, so I'm not affected in that way.
01:16But I do think that motorists generally are exploited.
01:22And I personally think that car parking charges are too expensive.
01:27I think there probably needs to be some flexibility.
01:30I don't think it does incentivise people to use public transport, because the people who
01:34are being squeezed for like parking fees and so forth are people who are already like they
01:37already work with automobiles as a standard or whatever.
01:40Like the automobile lobby or whatever is always in favour of reducing fees, reducing ULAs, reducing
01:46like payments and stuff like that.
01:48I don't think it's very likely that a lot of them are going to move out of their cars.
01:52And I think that the people who need to make use of cars are very often the ones who are
01:55being targeted the most.
01:56It's to the disadvantage of local businesses.
01:59Across the UK, councils bought in nearly £360 million from residents parking charges over
02:09the last four years.
02:10And that's only from the 128 local authorities that responded to the survey.
02:16The actual total is likely to be higher.
02:19Islington, Hackney, Haringey, Lambeth, Waltham Forest, Brent and Tower Hamlets also featured in
02:25the top ten, making it clear that this is very much a London-led trend.
02:30Now, Wandsworth Council responded to the figures, saying it has frozen permit costs this year
02:36to ease the burden on residents.
02:38It added that any surplus is reinvested into local services, including maintenance and free
02:43transport for older and disabled people.
02:46Still though, with the cost of living continuing to rise, the role of parking charges in daily
02:53expenses, especially for drivers, is becoming harder to ignore.