Summer earner for cash-strapped schools

Schools which are closed over the summer holidays, and are near to town centres, train stations and popular local amenities, are being urged to rent out their spare car park spaces to needy motorists to help plug any funding gaps.

The advice comes from online parking portal YourParkingSpace.co.uk which believes there will be thousands of car park spaces lying empty at educational establishments over July and August.

Indeed, in England alone there are approximately 25,000 schools, including primary and secondary schools plus other educational facilities.

YourParkingSpace.co.uk estimates that if each of these schools rented out just two parking spaces from Monday to Friday for six weeks for £7 a day each then that would raise £10.5m over the school summer holidays in England by itself – equivalent to the annual salary of 467 new qualified teachers.

And with school funding becoming a political battleground YourParkingSpace.co.uk says parking rentals could be part of the solution to budgetary woes for many educational establishments.

In fact, in recent weeks head teachers at schools in 17 councils in England sent a letter to parents warning that many schools are going to have to cut staff and subject choices.

Harrison Woods, managing director at YourParkingSpace.co.uk, said, ‘Cash-strapped schools in the right locations are potentially sitting on a parking goldmine. With budget restraints hitting hard on the public purse strings, this could be the ideal way to earn additional revenue from land that is effectively vacant for six weeks or more.

‘And when you consider how many thousands of schools there are across the UK, then this potentially equates to hundreds of thousands of spare car parking spaces in July and August which could be a rich source of income.’

‘Many schools are located in urban areas and close to town centres, railway stations and the like, making them ideal for car owners looking for somewhere cheaper to park than a traditional car park.’