The controversial closure of the old Allders car park, cutting off access for shoppers to the Whitgift shopping centre, is just one of a series of moves undertaken by Westfield which appear to make visiting the shops in Croydon town centre more difficult and less inviting, and much more expensive.
No through road: the old Allders car park was closed last week, despite complaints from businesses in the Whitgift Centre
Car park charges have gone up by almost £6, to £11.50 for anyone staying longer than four hours.
Westfield arrived in Croydon in 2012, promising to deliver a £1.4billion redevelopment of the Whitgift and Centrale shopping centres with offices, cafes and restaurants, some entertainment venues, almost 1,000 new homes, and one of their special temples to retailing. Twelve years on, two planning applications, a public inquiry and CPO later, and not a brick has been laid, nor a wall demolished.
But the multi-billion multi-national developers, now based in Paris, are gradually squeezing greater control over both existing shopping malls, as demonstrated by the parking changes.
Centrale’s car park has space for 950 vehicles, the Whitgift Centre car park 1,456. They were managed by NCP until 2021, and Westfield have recently replaced the previous operator with a new one, called FAAC Mobility Services. Gone are the old-style payment machines, and now to pay for their parking, motorists will need a smartphone app. Another one…
FAAC appears to manage car parking at other Westfield sites.
While council car parks around the borough are being moved to RingGo, the town centre, FAAC car parks use one called JPASS.
The first hour parked in either car park will cost £2.50. Stay for four hours or more (up to 24 hours) in Centrale and it is £8.50; for some reason, in the Whitgift car park, the charge for four hours-plus is £11.50 – an increase of 100%.
Going up: charges in the town centre car parks have been hiked
But Inside Croydon readers bold enough to venture into Croydon town centre and park their cars relate that the process is not only more expensive, but also far from straightforward.
“On Monday I parked and paid by app as usual but on Tuesday there were ‘no search results’ on that app,” said one reader who works in the town centre.
“No machine in the area I park in or where the old machine had been located. I scanned the QR code on the wall but kept getting error messages.
“Even after downloading a new app, verifying my email, and going through the whole, laborious process, the car park I had parked in was not yet listed on the app!
“On top of all that hassle, according to the centre website, it will now cost me £11.50 instead of £5.70 to park whenever I go in as a charity volunteer.”
The reader was feeling properly FAAC’d off.
“It appears that Westfield really don’t want people to come into Croydon and shop in their centres, or to buy more than a small, light item that they can carry home on the bus or tram.”
Croydon BID, the business improvement (our italics) district organisation which supposedly represents businesses in the town centre, and Jason Perry, Croydon’s part-time Mayor (and director of Croydon BID), have been completely silent on the matter.
Read more: Businesses on the brink as Whitgift Centre set to close car park
Read more: Mayor sneaks in night-time parking charges across borough
Read more: Barwell, Brexit and Croydon’s troubled Westfield dream
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ROTTEN BOROUGH AWARDS: In January 2024, Croydon was named among the country’s rottenest boroughs for a SEVENTH successive year in the annual round-up of civic cock-ups in Private Eye magazine
And some people have the cheek to say Mayor Perry is two-faced, that he supports motorists one day while fleecing and curbing them the next.
Same goes for the so-called environmentalists who want him to reduce traffic in Croydon to improve air quality and cut carbon emissions. Can’t they see that he’s doing more than he promised?
Who cares if Peter Morgan and the ULEZettes get upset? You’re doing a great job Jason!
People with a conspiratorial turn of mind might think that this is all part of a plot. They can say that no one wants to shop in Croydon anymore, so we will just knock everything down and build flats and restaurants.
Right…but two adjectives missing: empty flats and half full restaurants, 66% of which fail in the first year.
The Whitgift Foundation and our Councillors seem to be constantly ruthlessly outmanoeuvred by this company. I’m sick of Westfield, yet our Councillor’s seem to be determined to continue working with them. It would be nice to live in a world where there could be a compulsory purchase order by the Government on the cheap and there could be tendered bids on the site based a company’s vision with a guarantee of when they would break ground with strict targets for completion dates and heavy fines if the targets are not hit. The same goes for St George’s Walk and the Nestle building.
By not having a functioning town centre they are affecting the lives of 400,000 people. I would like to go to a town centre I can easily use and enjoy. I’m only 20 minutes walk away and yet I avoid it. It would be so nice to have all the shops, cafes, restaurants and entertainment I need all on my doorstep in a pleasant, safe environment. The only things getting built are ugly build to rent skyscrapers, everything else is being run into ground. Our Council and the Whitgift Foundation just seem to sit on their hands, bumble along as things continue to decline, no one seems to have a plan or a vision. We have the types of Councillor’s that care more about complaining of grass not being cut or sticking flags up on poles at the town hall and grinning in front of it instead.
Well put.
Crazy that in the 13 years of me living in Croydon it just hasn’t progressed. Self serving politicians (of all persuasions), council members and town planners all living by the mantra shown in The Wire – ‘Shining sh*t and calling it gold’ so they can advance their careers to the detriment of Croydon.
Time these people were held accountable and we move forward progressively.
It seems obvious that there is another agenda in play here that we are not privy to, my guess would be to demolish and build flats as that appears to be the option with most profit, any better ideas ?
The reality of town centre shopping common to many towns is:
Big items and large food shops – out of town with free parking ie Purley Way
Small items – Internet
Town centres – coffee shops, nail bars, fast food
On line for transactions such as banking, insurance etc
The days of Council’s and private parking operators being able to fleece motorists are diminishing.
Try parking in Sutton priced at £3 per hour. What’s the big picture for Croydon? Only those in the know are aware but surely the Allders car park is unsafe, run down, used by undesirables and publ8c safety compromised.
Well, if the message they are sending is don’t visit Croydon, I won’t. It’s that simple.
In addition to the closure of the Allders car park, the public toilets on the top floor of the Whifgift Centre above the central square have also now shut You now have to trail right down to the other end to the only other facilities above what once was Sainsburys – and even there the cheapskates have now cut off the hot water which I thought was a legal requirement….! The Clinton card shop on the upper floor – which has been trading there for nigh on 40 years – has also announced it’s abandoning ship shortly. The countdown to total closure/demolition of the Whitgift began some years ago and seems to be accelerating. I’d give it two more years, max.
Well, this is a surprise – I thought the toilets above what-was-once-Sainsbury’s were the ONLY bogs!
When Sainsbury’s chose to shut their store as more £££ than their profit margin was being stolen, more attention should have been paid. They left with I believe 6 years left on their lease. A telling decision.
I feel for those who have no choice but to shop in the Tesco Expresses / Sainsbury’s locals who add 30% extra margins onto essentials. Again something that an incumbent politician (regardless of party) should be looking out to defend.
Fear not. There’s bound to be a plan, especially now that Adam “Westfail” Smith has joined Croydon BID
Car park charges have gone up for people staying more than four hours! How could anyone endure central Croydon for that length of time?
Well Sadiq has provided the solution for getting out of Croydon to
shop. Get on the SL5 bus to Bromley and visit the thriving centre and The Glades – clean with big stores, etc.
Or get the SL7 bus to Sutton for the shopping centre.
Croydon is a dump compared to these other centres.
Croydon is a big cockup by overpaid councillors. Why should they worry? Their pay goes in the bank regularly , while general public suffers.