Mayor's megamalls 'killing high streets'

Approval for 51 major retail developments was granted by the Mayor between 2002 and 2006, according to figures obtained by the Green party.

The malls given permission will together have about 5.3 million square feet of shopping. With other centres in the pipeline, as much as 10million square feet could be built over the next five years.

Critics fear this will accelerate the "cloning" of high streets by making it harder for independent stores to compete.

Jenny Jones, Green party member of the London Assembly, said local shops would struggle to survive against "the corporate might of identikit shopping malls filled with bland high street chains".

She added: "Once small shops and local services disappear from our high street, local residents often have to travel farther to shopping malls, putting further strain on public transport and roads."

The consumer boom convinced many big developers to sink billions of pounds in new centres to rival Brent Cross and Bluewater. The biggest, at 1.6 million sq ft, will be Westfield London in Shepherd's Bush, due to open by Christmas.

There are serious concerns about its effect on Uxbridge Road, which has an extraordinary range of independent stores. Other developments due in the coming years include Stratford City, the new Elephant & Castle shopping centre, Battersea Power Station and the former railway yards around King's Cross. There is also a plan to double the size of Brent Cross.

Independent shopkeepers who fear they will be driven out of business by the malls point to the experience of traders near other shopping centres outside London.

Shamim Uddin, who runs a fruit and vegetable shop in Elephant & Castle and has campaigned for better protection for traders, said: "When Lakeside opened they put all the small retailers in an area called Brompton Walk with low rents but it has been in steady decline as there was no necessity for shoppers to go to that end of the building. "If that doesn't work what chance has a London high street got?"

A spokesman for the Mayor said he recognised the importance of smaller traders and retailers. He has proposed that developers must include in their plans "affordable premises" for small shops.

The policy is expected to be enshrined in his London Plan later this year.