Shirehall nets £600,000 a year in Ludlow's parking fees and fines
Parking fees and fines in Ludlow netted Shropshire Council nearly £600,000 in the last financial year alone, it has been revealed.
The figure has been provided by the local authority in response to a Freedom of Information request submitted by Ludlow town councillor Jim Smithers.
It comes as the council finds itself under fire for a number of controversial measures brought in at the start of the year, including charging shoppers for on-street parking on Sundays and introducing new permits for market traders to try and stop them leaving vans on the streets all day.
The FOI revealed Shropshire Council received £416,585.08 from off-street parking – council car parks including Castle Square and Smithfield – from April 2012 to the end of March this year.
It showed this compared to an income of £113,206.52 for on-street parking during the same period and £60,987.49 netted from parking fines – a total income of £590,779.09 over the 12-month period.
Former Shropshire Council transport chief Martin Taylor-Smith, who lost his seat in Ludlow South at last week's elections, had claimed the cash from car parking was needed to subsidise Ludlow's Park and Ride system.
He also revealed plans to start running the service on Sundays for the first time from July. But the figures from the FOI reveal the cost of running the Park & Ride in Ludlow for 2012/13 was just £126,271.51.
An extra expenditure figure of £52,725.69 was given as the cost of parking enforcement in the town.
It means there is £411,781.89 left over once the costs for the Park & Ride and enforcement officers are taken out.
Councillor Smithers, commenting on the figures, said: "I think people have the ability to see from this that over £400,000 goes to Shirehall when it could and should be spent on improving parking, public transport and road resurfacing in Ludlow.
"Some road repair work over the last few years has been of such a poor quality that it has had to be done twice."
Ludlow trader Rai Fisher revealed last week that more than 5,000 people had signed petitions against the introduction of parking charges on Sundays.
