RESTRICTIONS on parking are turning Purley into a "ghetto", according to a business expert.
Andrew Dean, an economics and business teacher at John Fisher School, has been studying the demise of the British high street and said Purley was a perfect case study.
Mr Dean has lambasted the council for their parking policies, which he says fail to protect independent stores and destroy the fabric of Croydon's towns.
"High streets will become a thing of the past," the teacher told the Advertiser.
"Takeaways, bookkeepers and supermarket chains will be the only winner here.
"Purley, like other high streets, will become a ghetto of boarded up shops and 'For Let' signs.
"Since they made the changes to the parking on the High Street, no one comes to shop there for specific items or with a car where they know they can stay for a certain amount of time.
"The High Street is relying entirely on footfall or people walking past with no particular purpose. It redirects everyone to the big supermarkets like Tesco, where you can buy anything."
At the moment, there are three empty shop fronts in the High Street, five fast-food outlets, one payday loan shop and a bookies, eight cafes and restaurants, two banks, six hair salons and one newsagent. Mr Dean called on the council to make a stand against super chains like Tesco, Sainsbury's and Starbucks if they wanted to protect independent businesses.
He said: "It has a huge effect socially – towns will become largely residential with just a few convenience shops run by the chains.
"All the independent single-market shops will disappear and there is nothing really to do in Purley so people just won't come here.
"It means high streets will become ghost towns with no social interaction and everything moving online."
The teacher said the decline of the high street was also a big issue for his students, who often ask why councils do not strive more to block supermarket applications.
Ersen Yeldener, owner of Purley Dry Cleaners, said: "I think it's terrible what they have done to the parking. They decreased the number of spaces and I have lost a lot of customers.
"All the businesses signed a petition to the council but they only made two more.
"I don't know how they expect us to stay in business when they don't help us out properly."
There are a handful of parking spaces on the High Street – the first half an hour is free, over 30 minutes 70p and one hour is 90p.
A council spokesman said: "We do what we can to support independent businesses and our master plans, which are forming a comprehensive set of planning guides for around the borough, acknowledge the importance."
