At the Brookfield Farm Centre signage suggests that car parking is free for the first three hours but, unlike the Sainsbury's site in Hoddesdon, there are no payment machines in the car park, nor is there any evidence of wardens or enforcement meaning customers can park for as long as they wish for free.

Last year the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) commented: "Free parking at out of town shopping has already seen a decline in town centre shoppers and, unless the parking fee problem is addressed in the near future, we will witness a further decline in town centre shopping." Income from town centre parking raised a staggering £1.6 billion for local authorities in 2005, rising from just £628 million in 1997. The FSB has urged local government to rethink the parking problem, claiming that "excessive fees are a short term fix and that customers are ultimately being turned away from high street shopping."

In July 2008 the Conservative Party's Commission on Small Shops in the High Street, proposed local council should "give stronger consideration to the impact of parking provision and charging on high street and town centre vitality… bad parking facilities coupled with poor transportation into town centres severely restrict the footfall that high street retailers need."

Other local councils are trying to help bring back trade to their High Street by addressing car parking fees: