Councillor Lauren Townsend, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Resources & Customer Experience, approved recommendations regarding the surplus from on-street parking in 2024/25, and how that surplus will be spent. The council noted a surplus of £10.444m from on-street parking and approved the proposed use of these funds. This surplus is earmarked for various projects, including improvements to parking facilities, traffic management, passenger transport, and environmental initiatives.

Parking Income Surplus

The council noted the income surplus for on-street parking in 2024/25 and approved areas of budget spend for 2024/25. The on-street parking surplus from car parking spaces in and around Central Milton Keynes was £10.444m in 2024/25.

The recommendations that were approved were:

1. That the surplus from on-street parking in 2024/25, as shown in Annex A, be noted.
2. That the use of the surplus, as shown in Annex B, be approved.

The surplus is governed by Section 55 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984¹, which dictates how such funds can be used. Graham Cox, Assistant Director of Highways and Transport, and Paul Harrison, Network and Enforcement Manager, were named in the report.

Financial Implications

The financial details are outlined in Annex A and Annex B of the report. Annex A details the £10.444m on-street parking surplus for 2024/25. Annex B shows the proposed application of the surplus, allocated in line with the budget. The report states that the additional surplus over the budget has been used to cover costs incurred in the year.

The expenditure includes:

• £3.748m on parking, including multi-storey and other off-street car parks, maintenance and energy, winter gritting, cleansing, and landscaping.
• £152,000 on traffic staffing and management, including traffic management and road safety.
• £5.520m on passenger transport, including the passenger transport team, concessionary fares, community transport, passenger transport subsidies, and direct responsive transport.
• £19,000 on publicity.
• £331,000 on other passenger transport projects, including Novus[^2], studies/project development, real-time passenger transport information, MK Coachway, and bus infrastructure. [^2]: It is not clear from the documents what Novus refers to.
• £4.911m on infrastructure investment funding for capital investment in highways.
• £1.024m on environmental improvements, specifically improving land by roads and open spaces/recreational facilities free of charge to the public.

Annex C provides a description of expenditure costs, including contractor management fees for the Saba enforcement contract and EGIS systems contract, RingGo text and data costs, staffing costs, supplies and services, support costs, decriminalised costs, signing and maintenance costs, and depreciation.

Legal and Other Implications

The council is required to undertake an annual review of surplus parking income before deciding whether to use the surplus for additional off-street parking provision. The proposed expenditure aligns with Section 55 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984. Using surplus parking income to subsidise passenger transport and reduce car journeys supports sustainability policies. The report aims to be transparent in demonstrating how surplus parking income is used and that this complies with legislation. Management of a parking scheme can reduce crime and disorder and vehicle crime due to the visibility of patrolling parking attendants or ANPR vehicles.