Freedom of Information request reveals information about income and expenditures of Newark and Sherwood District Council car parks in Newark

One town car park has generated nearly £300,000 in the last financial year, new figures have revealed.

A Freedom of Information request submitted by this newspaper has revealed that the London Road car park in Newark is Newark and Sherwood District Council’s most successful car park in terms of ticket revenue.

It is followed by the district’s car park in Town Wharf.

The figures are relevant to income received through Pay By Phone, season tickets and machines.

The district council received £651,746.55 from its eight car parks in Newark between April 1, 2023 and March 15, 2024.

Figures released reveal that the London Road car park in Newark had generated £276,385.54 in the last financial year.

The Town Wharf is another high grossing car park having made £120,085.56 during the same time frame, followed by Riverside Arena which made £94,569.85.

The Appletongate car pak generated £77,621.12 with £55,436.89 made at the Riverside car park.

A total of 27,647.59 was generated from a combination of incomes from Castle House 1, 2, and 3.

The District Council has four contract parking car parks in Newark, including Town Wharf, Barnbygate, Palace Theatre and Pelham Street.

A contract parking space guarantees a space 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to individuals who buy permits, be it quarterly or annually.

From its contract parking car parks, the council has made a total of £22,642.92 both in the 2022/23 and 2023/24 financial years.

Our figures show the council spent £25,764.55 on maintenance and repairs at the car parks over that period of time.

From its car parks in Newark between April 1, 2022, and March 15, 2023, the council has made £652,961.07 resulting in a loss of £1,214.52 from 2022/23 to 2023/24.

In the 2019/20 final year, it made £641,623.8 from its eight car parks and an additional £21,139.77 from its contract parking.

Works undertaken by the council on its car parks have also been released, with £12,645.46 spent between 2019/20, £15,220.65 between 2020/21 and £27,377.69 between 2021/22.

The financial year of 2022/23 saw a big increase in the council’s expenditure for maintenance and repairs of its car parks with a total of £47,728.22.

Councillor Rowan Cozens, deputy leader of Newark and Sherwood District Council said: “At a time when costs are rising across the board and many local councils are having to review their spending priorities, it is great news that the cost of parking in Newark has remained the same this year as last year.

“The town centre has a number of options for car parking, with London Road being particularly popular due to its location, sitting as it does on one of the main routes into the town and giving easy access to the marketplace, the National Civil War Centre and the cinema.

“We are sometimes asked why we don’t offer free parking. At certain times of the year we do offer free parking, for example during the lead up to Christmas. However, there are several reasons why we cannot offer this all the time in Newark.

“We have to work alongside commercial partners who also offer car parking facilities, such as the NCPs at the Northgate station and St Mark’s Place. If we made our car parks free all the time, these facilities would become unsustainable reducing the level of choice for residents.

“There is also a fine balance to be struck between encouraging alternative forms of transport to get into town, from an environmental perspective, and meeting the needs of those residents who still rely on their cars. Whilst we want residents to adopt alternative forms of travel, such as walking, cycling and public transport, we accept that this is not feasible for everyone.

“Free parking, however, would have the effect of encouraging the most environmentally damaging short-range journeys and simply add to the town’s congestion.

“Revenues from our car parks help us to maintain the car parks themselves and the spaces surrounding them. There are also costs associated with utilities, security and the officers who patrol the car parks.”