WORCESTER City Council made a £2.8 million surplus from car parking charges in the last financial year – while Malvern Hills District Council made a £90,000 loss.

The figures, which have been published by the RAC Foundation, reveal the city council has the most lucrative set-up in the county with Wychavon District Council’s £1.8 million profit in second place.

Bromsgrove District Council and Wyre Forest District Council made moderate surpluses of £587,000 and £388,000 respectively, but Redditch Borough Council ended with a loss of £81,000.

Councillor Marc Bayliss, cabinet member for economic prosperity at Worcester City Council, said: “Following a change in the city council’s political administration in May, the new cabinet moved swiftly to reduce car parking charges.

“Worcester City Council’s charges are lower than many neighbouring towns including Droitwich and Pershore and are cheaper than commercial operators such as NCP.

“If Worcester’s parking income is larger than its neighbours, this is simply because we have more car parks with more spaces to offer drivers.”

The RAC calculated the stats by adding up income from parking tickets, permits and penalties and subtracting running costs, but its figures do not include expenditure on capital charges such as interest and depreciation.

Worcester City Council, which introduced free evening parking on Thursdays in December to boost Christmas trading in the city, stated the true surplus was £94,896 after reinvesting in its services.

By law local authorities must spend any surplus on transport projects.

Vic Allison, deputy managing director at Wychavon District Council, outlined its approach to parking fees.

He said: “Car parking charges are an important part of our revenue and they help keep council tax down and protect other services that our residents value.

"Our parking team’s primary function is to ease congestion on the highways, helping to keep traffic in our towns and villages running smoothly and ensuring that our residents are not inconvenienced by inconsiderate and illegal parking.

"The income generated from car park charges is used to maintain and invest in the car parks, as we have recently seen at the Covercroft car park in Droitwich Spa."

Malvern Hills District Council was not available to comment at the time of going to print.

Across England councils made a combined profit of £667 million in 2013 to 2014, an increase of 12 per cent on the previous year.

The majority of local authorities made surpluses on their parking operations with just 16 per cent – including Malvern Hills District Council and Redditch Borough Council – recording negative results.

Westminster City Council made the biggest profit nationally of £51 million.

Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, said: “Parking profits seem to be a one-way street for councils, having risen annually for the last five years.

“Yet over the same period spending on local roads has fallen about a fifth in real terms.

“We understand the pressures councils are under with their overall income still falling and the level of services they have to provide in such areas as social care rising rapidly.

“One sign that the escalation in parking profits might be coming to an end is that much of this year’s increase comes not from growing income from penalties and charges but cuts in the cost of parking operations.

“This suggests local authorities are making efficiency savings and should bring some good news to both drivers and council taxpayers.

“The bottom line is that parking policy and charges must be about managing traffic not raising revenue.”