12:24pm Wednesday 24th July 2002
A letter from the Whitgift Centre management, urging the council to reconsider its decision to raise the cost of parking in the borough, has been sent to Croydon's parking boss in a last ditch attempt to change councillors' minds.
The management and 146 of the Whitgift's retailers, who fear the hike will drive shoppers away from the town, have vehemently opposed plans to increase the cost of parking in a letter sent to Roger Woodwood last week.
The letter accuses the council of going back on an agreement initially made in February this year, and calls on councillors to review the policy's price structure before implementing it next month.
Whitgift's centre manager Rod Wood claims in the letter that the proposals will not only be detrimental to the town centre's retail economy but says the proposed charges are significantly different from those initially agreed.
He wrote: "The published charges differ significantly from the initial proposals agreed between us at a meeting in your office on Wednesday February 27 2002.
"It has been reported that these charges had the agreement of and full support of the town centre retailers. As you are aware this is not the case.
"The Whitgift Shopping Centre and its retailers feel very strongly that these increased charges will be detrimental to Croydon's prime retail area by forcing shoppers to travel to competitive towns with cheaper parking.
"Government figures indicate that the country's economy is currently being propped up by the retail trade. We are all interested in reducing the poor image of Croydon and we feel to apply these swingeing price increases will only reduce Croydon's image while increasing that of neighbouring towns."
As revealed in the Croydon Guardian earlier this month, Croydon Council have been accused of hiking parking fees to help make up a £12m short-fall in their budget.
But councillors backing the policy, which comes into effect on August 12, have said that the rationale is partly to encourage more people to use public transport.
Coun Gerry Ryan, cabinet member for transport and highways, said: "It's a radical step but a necessary one. Let's give it a chance. The public expect us to address the issue of pollution and that is what this is about."
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