Car parks in Surrey Heath could be closed or sold off if they don’t start making money
Car parks in Surrey Heath could be closed or sold off if they don’t start making money, it was warned.
Surrey Heath Borough Council’s finances are in a precarious position with the leader having previously warned of potential bankruptcy.
Councils that go bust are not allowed to run discretionary services such as car parking, unless they pay for themselves.
Surrey Heath Borough Council currently uses taxpayer money to subsidise its car parking so if there is no improvement in either the council’s financial position or the profitability of its car parks, they could be forced to get rid of them, the May meeting of its performance and finance scrutiny committee heard.
Councillor Alan Ashbery (Liberal Democrat: Frimley) portfolio holder for parking services said: “Let us not forget that parking is a discretionary service and that this council’s precarious financial state means that if a discretionary service is not being funded by those that use it, it should be discontinued and not subsidised by council tax payers.
“Why should residents who choose not to use our car parks subside those that do?”
The council was advised that £300,000 a year should be spent on maintaining its car park but that over the course of the past decade “not a fraction of that money has been spent” leaving the authority with “a very large number of unresolved issues”.
It comes amid calls for the council to lower parking charges by those saying it has impacted town centre footfall.
Cllr Ashby argued this was not the case and the reduction was more in line with national behaviour shifts – adding the percentage of people coming into towns and using car parks in the borough had actually increased.
He said: “It has been suggested that increased parking charges has caused the decline in footfall in our town centre.
“The data simply does not support that assertion, firstly the reduction of shoppers using traditional shopping centres has been in decline since before the Covid pandemic which has only served to accelerate this decline.”
Last year Surrey Heath Borough Council car parks generated £1.8million in revenue but even that was not enough to cover the cost of keeping them open and fit for purpose.
Bankrupt Woking Borough Council has been able to retain its car parks because the service rakes in about £7m of income to its overall council budget, more than 50 per cent of its council tax take, the meeting heard.
Councillor Richard Wilson (Liberal Democrats: Bagshot) said: “It’s a concern that it still doesn’t cover all its costs.
“It’s being subsidised and a discretionary service that is being subsidised is a really vulnerable service so we don’t want to lose our car parks, our residents don’t want to lose our car parks, but if this council goes into s114 [declares itself bankrupt] or is taken over by a unitary authority than this is going to be looked at by others.
“We will lose control of what happens to the car parks.”
He added: “The best way for us to protect the future of car parks in this borough is to make sure that they do pay for themselves, they make a contribution so there won’t be a case for closing them down or selling them off.”
The council has spent about £600,000 on new lifts and stairwell refurbishments across its sites, while the parking team has refreshed all pay and display facilities needed, together with essential maintenance and upgrades at key locations, including Prior Road, Martindale, Beaumaris Parade, and Bisley. Issues addressed included potholes, line marking, and landscaping.
The parking team has also invested in CCTV across Camberley’s multi-storey parking facilities with the aim of making the sites safer and “ensuring a better experience for all” the report presented to the committee read.