Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the financial effect on local authorities of income lost from car parking charges as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.

The Government recognises the impact that the Covid-19 pandemic is having on local authorities’ finances and capacity. On 28 April the Secretary of State announced allocations to individual local authorities of the additional £1.6 billion of funding to support councils in delivering essential front line services that was announced on 18 April. The grant will be paid in May as an un-ringfenced amount, recognising local authorities are best placed to decide how to meet the additional Covid-19 service pressures in their area. This funding is in addition to the £1.6 billion announced on 19 March.

The Government has asked local authorities to monitor changes in their income and expenditure as a result of Covid-19, including car parking income, through a data collection exercise. We are at the beginning of analysing what those returns tell us, and will continue to work with councils over the coming weeks to ensure they are managing as the pandemic progresses.