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Brent Cross shopping centre has offered to scrap its free parking to counter fears that a major redevelopment will cause traffic jams.
Britain's oldest shopping mall says it will use parking charges to deter thousands of customers from arriving by car. The high-risk offer, which emerged last night as Brent Cross's bid for planning permission hung in the balance, could see it lose custom to rivals such as Westfield in Shepherd's Bush.
Westfield attributes part of its success in its first year to the decision to allow shoppers two hours' free parking.
Barnet councillors will tonight conclude an extraordinary two-day meeting to decide whether to grant permission for 7,500 homes around Brent Cross and for the shopping centre, which opened in 1976, to be transformed to create a "new town centre" in a 1.4 million square metre site.
The area is notorious for congestion, especially around Staples Corner, where the M1, A406 North Circular Road and A5 Edgware Road intersect. The development would create an extra 9,000 car journeys a day - though critics say the true figure is 29,000.
The developers - shopping centre owner Hammerson and Standard Life - have not asked for any increase on the 7,600 spaces at Brent Cross. Charges would start at £1 for up to two hours but would rise to £30 for visitors looking to spend more than eight hours there. The scheme would take up to 30 years to complete.
David Howard, chairman of the Federation of Residents' Associations of Barnet, said: "We think it's an arrogant, selfish, money-centred scheme."
Reader views (2)
Be thankful if this dissuades you from shopping at the "new" Brent Cross. At least it means you won't be breathing in the toxic fumes from the waste incinerator and huge rubbish dump across the road!
- Alison Hopkins, Brent, London, 20/11/2009 16:56
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Well, that'll be the last time I shop there. Same reason I only once visited Westfield.
I can take my pick from the most convenient shops by Tube (Oxford Street or Harrow), or several malls with free parking a short drive out of London. Or sit at home and shop on the internet. Don't need to pay for parking to go shopping, and won't.
- Nigel, London, 19/11/2009 15:22
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