PARKING charges and penalties are set to make a profit of nearly £14 million across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole this year.

Analysis has revealed there will be a surplus of £13.7 million after the running costs of parking activities have been taken into account.

The BCP figure is the 10th highest out of 343 councils across England and the second highest outside of London, behind only Brighton and Hove on £24 million.

Rules dictate that all the surplus cash goes into local transport projects.

Cllr Andy Hadley, BCP portfolio holder for transport and infrastructure, said parking charges across the three towns will be reviewed in order to “harmonise” them but he could not say whether prices would go up or down.

He told the Daily Echo: “It is a difficult balance because I am keen on encouraging people out of cars. We live in the third most congested urban area in the UK apart from Edinburgh and London.

“We need to consider what is reasonable. The money has to go into transport measures and we need to let people know what alternatives to cars are available.”

The research was carried out by the RAC Foundation who estimate that English councils could have a surplus of more than £900 million.

A total of 278 councils said they expect a surplus with 65 saying they think they will break even or incur a loss.

The study was carried out by transport consultant David Leibling, who analysed budget figures provided by English councils to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

Many of the highest totals for budgeted surpluses were seen in London, with Westminster having the largest (£72.1 million) followed by Kensington and Chelsea (£36.0 million) and Camden (£28.3 million).

Shoppers in Bournemouth had mixed views on parking charges in the town.

Dave Mason, visiting from Basingstoke, said: “I find parking in Bournemouth quite expensive but it’s just part of coming here. I might not be as chilled about it if lived here and had to pay it all the time.”

Mary Reece said: “I live in London so it seems quite cheap to me.”

And Alice White from Ferndown said: “Everyone moans about parking charges but we should really be on the bus or the train then it wouldn’t matter what the prices were.”

Martin Tett, the Local Government Association’s transport spokesman, said: “Councils are on the side of motorists and shoppers. They have to strike a balance when setting parking policy, both on-street and off-street, to make sure that there are spaces available for residents, high streets are kept vibrant and traffic is kept moving.

“Councils don’t make profit on parking charges. Any income raised through on-street parking charges is spent on running parking services and any surplus is only spent on essential transport projects.”