Readers have questioned what has been done with the more than £1million North Somerset Council has made in parking fines over the last two years.

North Somerset Council accrued £1,055,004 in parking penalty charges in its first two years in charge of enforcement, a Mercury freedom of information request revealed.

The authority took control of civil parking enforcement (CPE) from police in April 2017, with wardens returning to the streets for the first time in several years.

In addition to the penalties, the council collected £681,544 from on-street pay-and-display charges in the 2018/19 financial year.

At its off-street car parks - including the seafront - North Somerset earned £2,431,279 in charges, plus a further £103,693 in fines, in 2018/19.

The council's parking policies have been heavily criticised by Weston town centre's businesses, shoppers and residents - with many feeling they are adversely affecting the town.

Many took to social media to share their views.

Karen Saunders said: "This is the amount collected in fines, on top of this is the revenue from all of the car park charges.

"It is disgraceful that the people of Weston appear to be subsidising the free parking in Clevedon and Portishead where you can park all day long."

Gareth Saunders added: "If the figures are correct there was £600,000 in revenue from off street parking, £2.4million from car parks plus over £1million in fines. Can someone please explain where this £4million has all been spent.

Chris Meyer commented: "Lest we forget, one of the key drivers of this policy is plugging holes in the budget that central government massively slashed. Tory policy was to cut ten's of millions of pounds from local government funding and deferring the cost on to us, the residents and tax payers."

Paul Blackman said: "So when will they spend the money on pot holes, I have started to notice the weeds growing back through the curb stones now,

"So what are they spending this money on?

"Details on what the nearly £3 million pounds has been spent on would be interesting."

Maureen Bowen added: "With this amount of monies accrued our town centre and parks should be spotless and immaculate, ,what exactly do they spend this money on?"