London Road Station Footbridge

The bridge will be closed on Monday 6th and Tuesday 7th January for the Council to replace the step treads, please use the subway instead.

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RAC Foundation Report on Council Parking Revenue

English local authorities make almost £600 million from parking

23 Dec 2013

English councils have made another record surplus from their parking activities.

In 2012-13 councils generated a combined ‘profit’ of £594 million from their day to day, on and off street parking operations.

This is a 5% increase on the 2011-12 figure of £565 million.

Although not all councils made a large surplus, very few lose money on their parking activities. Just 52 (15%) of the 353 parking authorities in England reported negative numbers.

The figures are calculated by adding up income from parking charges and penalty notices, then deducting running costs.

Even after allowing for capital charges (interest and depreciation), the combined surplus in 2012-13 was still £460 million.

This is a 12% increase on the £412 million figure for 2011-12. (The full table of all councils is here.)

The data, studied for the RAC Foundation by David Leibling, comes from the annual returns that councils make to the Department for Communities and Local Government.

The authority with the largest surplus in 2012-13 was Westminster with £39.7 million. The four biggest earners were all London authorities with only Brighton, Nottingham and Manchester breaking into a top ten dominated by councils in the capital.

	Surplus before capital charges (£ thousands)
Local authority	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	Ranking by 2012-13 surplus
Westminster	34,558	38,196	41,599	39,705	1
Kensington & Chelsea	21,765	21,130	28,148	30,437	2
Camden	10,460	21,067	24,975	23,531	3
Hammersmith & Fulham	14,071	16,649	19,504	19,395	4
Brighton & Hove UA	11,741	12,744	14,436	16,254	5
Wandsworth	12,189	14,429	16,120	15,887	6
Lambeth	1,542	7,016	5,831	12,004	7
Nottingham City UA	3,271	3,661	3,251	11,791	8
Manchester	2,869	1,914	6,325	8,776	9
Islington	4,991	5,600	10,890	8,216	10

Nottingham’s surplus has grown significantly because of the introduction of the Workplace Parking Levy. If income from the levy – which is ring fenced to be spent on the city’s tram system – were deducted then the surplus would be £4.4 million.

Budgets submitted to the DCLG by local authorities suggest the surplus (before capital charges) for the current financial year will be higher still at £632 million.

Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, said:

“It is a case of déjà vu. Once again English councils have made record amounts from parking. Yet overall spending on local roads has fallen by 9% over the past three years with road safety expenditure down by as much as 20%.

“The government’s recent decision to consult on changes to parking rules and regulations is timely and we have always argued that at the very least all councils should publish an annual parking report to explain how much money is collected from drivers and, just as importantly, where that cash is going.

“It might be that some of the extra ‘profit’ has arisen because councils’ costs for running parking services have been reduced but drivers need to know this.

“There’s no disputing the figures we have looked at. They are the numbers the councils themselves submit to central government. What’s more, council budgets show that the surplus for the current year is set to be higher still.”

Brighton & Hove Green Party issued this statement.

Article from The Argus.

Phone Scam

Residents please be aware of a phone scam that is currently circulating;

The caller advises the taker that they have arrested someone who had a copy of the person’s debit card – they say that they are calling from Hammersmith Police Station and they ask for the security details on the back of the card.

They will ask numerous questions about the person taking the call i.e., mother’s maiden name and amount in account, they say their bank are producing forged notes and they are trying to catch them out. They ask for money to be drawn out in order that it can be detected to see if the notes are forged.

They say it’s a ‘highly secret operation’ and not to be spoken about!
This is obviously a scam and common sense must prevail – so please do not give out any details of your bank account to anyone over the phone.

Please be aware – if you receive one of these calls simply put the phone down……..

Many thanks – if you require any further info please call 101

East Brighton Neighbourhood Policing Team

Sussex Police

Christmas Playstreet

It was lovely to be able to bring 2013’s Playstreets to a close with a well-attended get together of new neighbours and old in the winter sunshine. Mince pies, some unseasonal music, beautiful Christmas paper chains and the ever-popular chalk drawings brought young and old out for a natter for an hour on Sunday afternoon.

Thank you to all those who have supported us – including Caroline Lucas MP, who turned up yesterday bearing home-made mince pies, and particularly our regular band of stewards. A list of Playstreet dates for 2014 will be available in January. Anybody interested in getting more involved, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.