Through the previous consultations carried out by Broxbourne Council, and the studies undertaken by Action4Hoddesdon with the general public and market traders, one of the perceived causes of the steady decline of the centre is the lack of free parking serving it. But why should this be?

In March 2000, planning permission was granted for the construction of a new Sainsbury's supermarket at Charlton Mead Lane. At that time, apart from the short stay kerbside parking, the following car parking facilities were available in the town centre:

In January 2003, following a decision by Broxbourne Council, parking charges were introduced at the newly completed Sainsbury's supermarket. As a result of this, in order to avoid the new fees Sainsburys shoppers began parking at the Co-op site next door forcing that store (now replaced by Netto) to introduce its own pay and display system. Iceland subsequently brought in its own restrictions and when the new Aldi opened nearby it introduced 72 customer parking spaces, initially for a period of two hours subsequently reduced to 90 minutes. Earlier this year the Tower Centre introduced pay and display parking for the first time.

Therefore, as a direct result of Broxbourne Council's decision to charge for parking at Sainsbury's instead of having 492 FREE parking spaces, now all off-street parking is only available for between 60 minutes and two hours, the latter being charged for. In this period there has a been a small increase in the number of kerb-side free short term parking spaces, but several private car parks for employees at the rear of the High Street have been lost due to residential developments being built on them.