Milton Keynes City Council received more than £15 million in parking income in one year
Parking charges, permits and penalties brought in almost £15.8 million for Milton Keynes City Council in just one year, new figures reveal.
The authority collected £10.7 million from parking tariffs in 2025/2026, alongside £3.3 million from permits and £1.8 million from penalty charge notices.
A further £7,000 was raised through parking suspensions, taking the total income to £15.8 million.
After almost £3 million was spent running and enforcing the on-street parking system, the council recorded a surplus of £12.8 million.
The figures relate to on-street parking spaces in and around Central Milton Keynes.
Under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, councils cannot treat parking surpluses as unrestricted income.
The money must instead be used for legally permitted purposes including parking facilities, public transport, highways and environmental improvements.
Council documents show the surplus helped to fund a wider £15.4 million programme of eligible spending, with the remaining £2.6 million provided from other council funds.
This included £5.3 million for passenger transport, of which almost £3.7 million went towards concessionary fares.
A further £4.9 million was allocated to capital investment in highways.
Parking-related spending totalled £3.5 million, including almost £1.8 million for other off-street car parks and £1.6 million for cleansing.
The spending also included £1.1 million for environmental improvements, £211,000 for bus infrastructure and £50,000 for road safety.
Milton Keynes City Council said using the surplus to subsidise passenger transport and reduce car journeys supported its sustainability policies.
The authority’s report said the spending complied with the legal restrictions governing the use of parking income.
The reported surplus was £2.4 million higher than the £10.4 million recorded in 2024/2025, an increase of almost 23 per cent.
Parking-tariff income increased by almost £2.4 million, from £8.3 million to £10.7 million, while permit income rose by £490,000.
Income from penalty charge notices remained virtually unchanged, increasing by just £2,000 to £1.82 million.
The rise came after new city-centre parking tariffs took effect in March 2025, the first changes in nearly a decade.
The minimum payment for two hours in standard purple bays doubled from £1 to £2, while the first hour in premium red bays increased from £2 to £2.50.
The increases faced opposition from Conservative councillors, who warned they could deter shoppers and harm businesses.
They said a petition against the changes attracted more than 900 signatures.
The council said at the time that it wanted to bring parking costs closer to bus fares and encourage greater use of public transport.