A proposal to remove free parking from a Coulsdon supermarket’s car park has been pushed through on the quiet by Croydon’s Tory Mayor Jason Perry, in what is suggested is another money-grabbing exercise by the cash-strapped council at the expense of residents and motorists.
Not listening: Mayor Perry has ignored a TOry MP and hundreds of residents over the Aldi car park
In 2019, Aldi was granted planning permission for their large supermarket on the Brighton Road, but only if they provided car parking space for the community to use – permanently.
The official report by a council official five years ago recommending granting permission to build the supermarket included a car park management scheme that allowed all-comers, and which would be “… retained for as long as the development remains in existence”.
Then last year, the German-based retailer submitted an application to Croydon Council to make their car park exclusive to their own customers.
The proposal was fiercely opposed by locals, for whom a lack of available parking in Coulsdon town centre has become increasingly problematic, especially since the Lion Green car park was largely taken over for a Brick by Brick housing project.
Parking problems: Aldi has done a U-turn over their promise to Coulsdon
Coulsdon residents even had support, in writing, from their Hampstead-based MP, Chris Philp.
Philp actively encouraged Croydon residents to object to the Aldi proposal.
In a letter to the council 12 months ago, Philp reminded the planners that Coulsdon’s influential residents’ associations only agreed to support the original Aldi planning application “on the understanding that there would be parking facilities for non-customers of the store”.
And he wrote: “It is vital that the car park remains open to all members of the public.”
Previous attempts to make the Aldi car park customer-only were rejected by the council, then under Labour control.
Philp described Aldi’s proposal for a change in their planning conditions as “unacceptable”.
But now Philp’s Conservative colleague, Mayor Perry, has accepted the unacceptable.
The council’s planning department wrote to Aldi in July to notify the company that the original condition over the car park was being waived, and the supermarket can now insist that only those using their store can use their car park.
It means that anyone looking to park in or around Coulsdon town centre will now have to pay at least £3 to use one of the council car parks nearby – or pop inside the supermarket and make some kind of token purchase.
The Aldi car park issue never made it to the public forum of the planning committee, but was pushed through by council officials under their delegated powers. Aldi’s application to change their planning conditions had attracted 230 objections – many of them having been encouraged by MP Philp.
Done deal: the council letter confirming that the change of planning condition had gone through – without ever being brought before the planning committee
“Why was this allowed to be decided by officers?” one angry resident asked Inside Croydon. “Did they think that it would encourage people to use RinGo and pay the council, instead of free parking in Aldi?”
And they asked: “Did any of our Conservative councillors support or object Aldi’s application?”
And another local said: “I’ve been keeping tabs on the application to vary the conditions attached to the Aldi approval. The condition has now been removed. A dangerous precedent?”
That’s thought to be a reference to the large Tesco car park at Purley, which continues to provide free parking for non-customers, but which the supermarket has tried to get that planning condition lifted before. With so much pressure on parking availability in Purley town centre already, there’s speculation that Tesco might use the Coulsdon decision to justify trying again.
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