East Suffolk Council Used £1.1 Million of Car Park Fees to Cover Street Enforcement

• East Suffolk Council used £1,137,908 of off-street parking fee income to cover a deficit on its on-street parking enforcement in 2025/26, up from £919,752 a year earlier.
• Off-street parking payments rose 27.4% to £4,778,993 while the number of off-street spaces stayed at 7,255.
• Total penalty notices fell 11.9% to 15,173, and 66% of all notices were paid at the discounted rate.

East Suffolk Council collected £4,778,993 in off-street parking payments in 2025/26, up 27.4% on the £3,752,070 taken a year earlier. It then used £1,137,908 of that fee income to cover a deficit on its on-street parking enforcement. The figures come from the council’s Annual Report Statistics 25-26, which sets the last two financial years side by side. The number of off-street spaces did not change in either year, staying at 7,255.

For a driver who parks in a council car park in Lowestoft, Woodbridge, Beccles or Felixstowe, that means the money paid at the machine or on the app carries more than the cost of the car park itself. The report states that the council did not generate a surplus from civil parking enforcement in either year, and it sets out the transfer from car park fees in a section headed Application of the Surplus.

Same 7,255 Spaces, Over £1 Million More in Payments

The rise in payments is large. Off-street parking payments rose by £1,026,923 in one year. With the same 7,255 spaces on offer, that works out at about £659 paid per space in 2025/26, against about £517 in 2024/25. That per space figure is our own arithmetic from the council’s totals, not a number published in the report.

Add in the money from penalty charge notices issued in the car parks and total off-street income reached £4,933,415, up 24.8% from £3,952,289. Penalty income from off-street notices actually fell, from £200,219 to £154,422, so the growth came from drivers paying to park, not from fines.

Off-street costs barely moved. Total off-street expenditure was £1,585,310 in 2025/26 against £1,596,927 the year before, a drop of 0.7%. The largest single line was leases, rents and utilities at £832,794, up from £785,926. Enforcement in car parks cost £513,613, down from £525,050, and maintenance fell from £83,347 to £63,913.

The result was an off-street surplus of £3,348,105, up 42.1% from £2,355,362. Of that surplus, £1,137,908 went to cover the civil parking enforcement deficit, compared with £919,752 in 2024/25. That is an increase of £218,156, or 23.7%.

Why the On-Street Account Is Running at a Loss

The on-street account tells the other side of the story. Income from on-street parking permits rose slightly to £75,251 from £72,444. Income from on-street penalty charge notices fell to £285,349 from £303,277. Total on-street income was £360,600, down 4.0% from £375,721.

Spending went the other way. On-street enforcement cost £719,268, up 29.8% from £554,189, and administration rose to £245,059 from £213,849. Total on-street expenditure was £964,327, against £768,038 in 2024/25, a rise of 25.6%.

That left an on-street deficit of £603,727, up 53.9% from £392,317. The £1,137,908 drawn from car park fees is larger than the on-street deficit shown in the table, and the report does not explain the gap between the two figures. We have set both numbers out exactly as the council published them.

Where the Penalty Notices Were Issued

East Suffolk issued 15,173 penalty notices in 2025/26, down 11.9% from 17,232. The fall was concentrated in car parks. Off-street lower tier notices dropped 26.6%, from 8,031 to 5,891, and the most common off-street offence, parking without clearly displaying a valid pay and display ticket, voucher or parking clock, fell from 5,574 notices to 3,756, a drop of 32.6%.

Higher tier on-street notices went up. They rose from 6,749 to 6,999, while off-street higher tier notices climbed from 350 to 430. The most common on-street offence was parking in a restricted street while controlled hours apply, with 2,981 notices against 2,867 the year before. Parking in a permit space without a valid permit rose from 976 to 1,242.

Lowestoft accounted for 6,264 of the 15,173 notices, or 41%. Felixstowe followed with 2,372, then Woodbridge with 1,686, Beccles with 1,401 and Bungay with 820. Every one of those towns except Lowestoft recorded fewer notices than in 2024/25.

Residents and visitors in the smaller towns face a different mix. Aldeburgh recorded 662 notices against 902, Southwold 519 against 703, and Framlingham 256 against 482. High Street in Aldeburgh was the fifth busiest street in the district with 207 notices, up from 180.

The busiest streets changed sharply. Tennyson Road in Lowestoft recorded 276 notices, up from 119, and Bevan Street West in the same town recorded 235, up from 56. Among car parks, Clapham Road in Lowestoft led with 344 notices, followed by Deben in Woodbridge with 339 and Royal Green in Lowestoft with 314.

How Many Drivers Paid, Challenged or Won

Of the 15,173 notices issued, 11,458 were paid, or 76%, compared with 13,455 and 78% the year before. A total of 9,967 notices were paid at the discounted rate, which is 66% of all notices issued, against 67% in 2024/25.

Some 1,570 notices were cancelled, or 10% of those issued, down from 1,931 and 11%. Within that total, 221 notices were closed for civil enforcement officer error, more than double the 104 recorded in 2024/25, and 78 were closed for other reasons, up from 24.

The pattern is worth a look for drivers who pay at the machine. In 2025/26 the council recorded 4,778 off-street notices as paid, down from 6,267, while the money collected from parking payments grew. Fewer drivers were fined in car parks and more money came in through payments for parking itself, which is why the car park accounts look so different from the street accounts.

Only a small number of drivers took their case to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal. There were 29 appeals in 2025/26 against 21 the year before, an appeal rate of 0.2%. Of the 29, six were allowed, two were not contested by the council and 21 were dismissed. The allowed share was 21%, and the dismissed share was 72%.

Can You Avoid It: Challenging a Penalty Notice

The car park fee itself is the price of parking, but a penalty notice can be challenged. The council figures show that 10% of notices issued last year were cancelled, so a challenge is worth making when the facts support it.

Act within 28 days. GOV.UK says a driver who receives a ticket on the spot can challenge it informally with the council within 28 days. If the informal challenge is made within 14 days and is rejected, the driver might only have to pay 50% of the penalty.

A notice sent by post, such as a notice to owner, skips the informal stage and goes straight to a formal representation. GOV.UK gives 28 days from receiving the notice to owner to make it. Give as much detail as possible and attach copies of any evidence, such as a photograph of the signs, a receipt or a screenshot of the payment app.

If the council rejects the formal representation, a notice of rejection follows, and there are 28 days to pay or appeal to the independent Traffic Penalty Tribunal. GOV.UK says PCNs issued outside London in England go to that tribunal. If the appeal succeeds, the penalty notice is cancelled and nothing is payable.

Do not ignore a notice. GOV.UK warns that a driver who neither pays nor appeals can face a late penalty, known as a charge certificate. Paying early at the discounted rate is the lowest cost option when a notice is correct, and 66% of East Suffolk drivers took it.

In East Suffolk the most common reason for a car park notice was a missing or unclear pay and display ticket. Keep the ticket face up on the dashboard, check the bay and zone markings, and keep a record of any app payment so a mistaken notice can be disproved. The 221 notices closed for officer error show that mistakes do happen.

The report also records the number of parking places in the controlled areas: 3,347 on street and 7,255 off street, unchanged from the previous year. Fee income rising 27.4% on unchanged capacity means each space produced more money, and drivers using council car parks in the district are the ones who paid it.

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Sources:

• East Suffolk Council: Annual Report Statistics 25-26 (civil parking enforcement, 2025/26 and 2024/25)
• GOV.UK: Parking fines and penalty charge notices: Challenging a ticket
• GOV.UK: Appeal against a penalty charge notice