Council leaders have hit back at claims that local authorities made a record surplus on their parking operations over 2012/13.

According to research from The RAC Foundation, town halls generated a combined profit of £594m from on and off street parking services over 2012/13 – a 5% increase on the previous year.

Analysing annual returns submitted to the Department for Communities and Local Government, the motorist organisation said only 15% of England’s 353 parking authorities lost money on their parking activities over the past year.

Arguing it was a ‘deep-rotted misconception’ that councils were using parking charges to raise money, the Local Government Association (LGA) said town halls were ‘on the side of hard-pressed motorists’.

Chair of the LGA’s economy and transport board, Cllr Peter Box, said: ‘This report further peddles the myth that councils are using parking charges to raise money.

‘The reality is that the average motorist is paying 30 times more to Whitehall in charges and taxation each year than they do to their town hall through parking.

‘Councils do not make a profit from parking. All income from charges and fines are spent on running parking services and any surplus goes on essential transport projects such as bringing our dilapidated road network up to scratch and providing subsidised bus travel for children or elderly residents.’

Director of The RAC Foundation, professor Stephen Glaister, said: ‘Once again English councils have made record amounts from parking. Yet overall spending on local roads has fallen by 9% over the past three years with road safety expenditure down by as much as 20%.

‘The Government’s recent decision to consult on changes to parking rules and regulations is timely and we have always argued that at the very least all councils should publish an annual parking report to explain how much money is collected from drivers and, just as importantly, where that cash is going.’