The operator of Croydon town centre’s most expensive car park is looking into introducing more reasonable rates to increase footfall at the Whitgift Centre.

It currently costs nearly £10 to park at the Whitgift Multi-Storey for three hours and £16.50 for up to 24 hours.

One resident posting on the Nextdoor social media website raised their concerns about the cost compared to other town centres like Bromley where it costs £3.40 for three hours at The Glades and The St Nicholas Centre in Sutton costs £3 for up to three hours.

The car park they are referring to is the Whitgift Multi Storey off Wellesley Road.

It is run privately by YourParkingSpace and is the most expensive car park in Croydon.

The company took on the car park from NCP in 2021 and claims it inherited the pricing structure but has not put up the prices since then.

It now wants to introduce “more afforable rates”.

A spokesperson for YourParkingSpace said: “The tariffs at the multi-storey car park in multi-storey are not set by YourParkingSpace.

"Two years ago, in 2021 we took over the management of the car park from NCP and inherited the existing tariff structure.

"The tariffs have since remained unchanged and frozen against further price increases.

“However, we are actively working with the landlord in exploring the potential around introducing more affordable rates, in recognition that this would offer the benefit of increasing footfall into the car park itself and also into the Whitgift Centre and the surrounding area.”

There are a number of cheaper options for drivers in Croydon – an all-day ticket at the Whitgift Open Air Car Park costs £5.70 on weekdays or £4.50 at the weekends, it also offers a £3.50 offer on Thursdays between 12-7pm. While all day parking at Centrale car park costs £5.50 a day.

Just a quarter of shoppers visiting Centrale and Whitgift shopping centres drive with the rest walking or using public transport, according to the company.

The post on Nextdoor said: “It’s sad to see what’s happened to central Croydon, which was once the leading shopping area in the south.

"Unless Croydon’s central shopping area once again becomes more joined up and competitive with other shopping locations, I can’t see it becoming a key shopping location ever again.”

There is also the council-owned Wandle Surface Car Park in the town centre which uses emissions-based charging.

There are three bands and those with the most polluting cars would spend £6.90 parking for three hours but cost just 69p for three hours for electric vehicles.