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Cost of parking outside your home up 50% in five years

Paloma Kubiak
Written By:
Paloma Kubiak
Posted:
Updated:
23/05/2016

The cost of parking your car in a residents’ bay has increased by 50% in the past five years, an investigation has revealed.

A survey of 433 UK councils found more than a third had raised their residential parking charges in the past five years, earning them more than £44.2m in collective revenue in 2014/15 alone.

Motorists have seen the cost of residents’ parking permits increase by an average of 51%, while some have been forced to pay more than double. In the worst case reported, those living in North East Lincolnshire have seen costs rocket from £15 to £80 per year – a 433% increase.

The investigation by car insurer, esure, also found that in the past two years, 54% of councils expanded the number of paid for parking zones in their area, meaning more motorists need to pay to park near their homes.

Esure revealed there are huge regional variations in the cost of permits.

Birmingham City Council tops the table with its annual parking permit costing £785 a year, closely followed by Manchester City Council where it costs £750 a year.

The average cost of an annual parking permit is £64 per year, esure said.

Top 10 most expensive areas for parking permits:

  1. Birmingham City Council                                £785
  2. Manchester City Council                                  £750
  3. City of Edinburgh Council                               £600
  4. London Borough of Islington                          £545
  5. Mid Devon District Council                             £425
  6. Purbeck District Council                                  £372
  7. Mole Valley Council, Surrey                            £350
  8. London Borough of Croydon                          £305 (cost for third permit)
  9. London Borough of Brent                               £302 (cost for third permit)
  10. Huntingdonshire District Council                 £300

Jon Wilshire, chief underwriting officer at esure, said: “Parking is a costly bone of contention for most drivers. With the cost and number of paid for zones on the rise some motorists are paying hundreds of pounds simply to park their car near their home.

“And to make things worse even with a residential parking permit many drivers still find it difficult to find a parking space near their own home. Over the past two decades the number of vehicles on the road in Britain increased by 10 million, going up from 21 million in 1995 to 31 million in 2015 but the space available for parking in residential areas has not increased.”