Coulsdon traders claim the council is trying to kill off the town after plans to slash free parking were approved this week.
The move comes just days after they wrote a letter to London mayor Boris Johnson, calling on him to lift parking restrictions to bring shoppers back to the ailing town centre.
On Tuesday, Town Hall chiefs ruled free parking in Brighton Road will be cut from one hour to half-an-hour, with pay-and-display meters introduced.
But shoppers will still only be allowed to park there for a maximum of an hour.
The new measures are set to be introduced by early next year, when £3 million improvement works, including wider pavements and new trees are complete.
The move has prompted fears that more and more people will shun the town for places where it is more convenient to park.
But supporters claim it will encourage a faster turnover of people dropping in for a short time, and provide a much-needed shot in the arm for the town’s shops.
Alan Wright runs Expresscopy in Chipstead Valley Road, where pay and display is already in place.
He said: “Why is Croydon Council hell-bent on trying to destroy Coulsdon?
“Shops are closing down on a daily basis. If you take away the parking, no one will come down here.
“We want someone to come down here and say: ‘You had a raw deal with the bypass, let’s help you out a bit’.”
About 10 per cent of shops in Coulsdon town centre are empty and last week Mr Wright wrote to the Mayor of London on behalf of traders.
His letter said: “Please, please, please give us a chance to keep trading. At the moment of recession the last thing we require is traffic wardens pushing away whatever custom there is in a suburb town.
“Through your office, we would be indebted to you if you would arrange for Coulsdon to be released of parking restrictions, even on a trial basis, on Saturdays as this would encourage customers back to shop here.”
Angela Silverstein, from Visions bathroom shop in Brighton Road, said reducing the amount of free parking to half-an-hour would make a difference to shoppers.
Ms Silverstein added: “Half-an-hour is nothing.”
And she said that over-zealous parking attendants were taking their toll on businesses as well.
“We’ve had customers who have had a ticket – they won’t come back to get one again.”
Alan Harris, who runs Coulsdon Home Hardware in Chipstead Valley Road, agreed shoppers needed to be encouraged back to the town.
He said: “What we need the council to do is encourage shoppers to shop in the area. Free parking is one way of doing this.”
At this week’s traffic management committee meeting, Elizabeth Radcliffe, who chairs the Coulsdon Neighbourhood Partnership, said the measure was an “aggressive step”.
“We really want to encourage people to come back into Coulsdon, or it’s going to die on its feet.
“The council hasn’t got an explanation as to why it’s come to this conclusion, other than that it’s a revenue exercise.”
But Coulsdon West Councillor Gavin Barwell said: “I believe that what we want to do is encourage rapid turnover.”
by Dave Burke, Croydon Today
