Support Mini Holland

I like how "save our parking" appears to have taken priority over "support our high street" :-/

They see them both as sides of the same coin. Local business owners tend to believe that a town centre with little car parking will not be prosperous, but that's a mistake. The problem is that traditional town centres like high streets can't compete with out-of-town shopping centres on car parking, but instead really have to compete on the basis of other ways of attracting people, such as ambience, tradition, local shops, etc. This doesn't stop them trying to compete on car parking, though, and it's easy to see why the battle will be about this.

They probably have a point that those middle-class cycle commuters who travel into London in the morning will not necessarily shop at their high street (they probably have cars at home and fill the boot at an out-of-town centre at the week-end like most others), but quite generally the benign modes (walking, cycling, and public transport) bring more customers than car traffic even in Outer London. Also, the constant domination of the high street by through motor traffic, which for the most part doesn't stop, or the presence of car parking, which is impermeable both visually as well as making it harder to cross the street (it's vital for any shopping street that it can be crossed easily), put customers off rather than attract them.

Car parking is also often used by shopkeepers themselves rather than leaving it free for potential customers, but here they're obviously talking about pay-and-display parking where they may even have data. In a sense, they're probably even missing a trick, as a large part of the discussion will be about loading arrangements (much more important for shops) rather than car parking.