Is Horsham District Council profiteering from parking?

Only Chichester had higher parking operations revenue, with Horsham District Council easily topping other authorities.

National figures have sparked a wave of debate after a high court judge declared that Barnet Council had acted illegally by using parking charges to raise general revenue. Barnet’s case related to parking permits.

Parking has proved a controversial subject in Horsham with separate hikes in February 2012 and March 2013.

Now it is being questioned if additional revenue is not being reinvested into improved parking facilities, whether the local authority, like others, could be subject to legal challenge.

A spokesperson for HDC disputed the figures and said it made no profit from civil enforcement officers (parking wardens), and added that any profit stemmed from off-street car parks in Horsham town centre.

These provide a net revenue of around £1.4m a year.

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