Watton Town focus. Watton Market and High Street.

Free parking, value for money and ease of access are top of the list when it comes to shopping in the region’s high streets, according to a new EDP survey.

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Findings show nearly 90pc of shoppers buy their food and other products from supermarkets, with nearly two thirds saying not enough quality and variety are provided in their local high street alone to persuade them to shop locally

But two thirds of people said they were proud of their town centre and that if everything they needed was provided there then they would steer clear of the major supermarket chains.

Sixty-four per cent of those asked put prices on the top of their agenda when shopping while others said their main considerations were convenience and free parking – which is often where supermarkets and retail parks score customers.

Laura Martin, 32, from Lowestoft, said: “Parking is a massive problem because it’s such a headache getting into town. It’s probably easier to get the bus but then you don’t buy as much because you don’t want to carry it all home.

“I come into town for bits and bobs but I do my food shopping at the supermarket. I don’t particularly enjoy it but it’s quick and it’s convenient.”

Pat Boggis, 68, from Fakenham, said: “I think the best thing that could be done to improve Fakenham town centre would be to introduce free parking and to bring in more decent shops. It seems that business rates are too high for many and people have to sell an awful lot to make money.”

In a bid to revive Britain’s high streets, the government has drafted in Mary Portas, TV’s “Queen of Shops”, to conduct a review and come up with ideas to bring variety to so-called “clone towns” and to reinvigorate town centres that are blighted by empty shops.

Prime minister David Cameron said high streets should be the “very heart of every community” and Ms Portas’s “no-nonsense approach” could help reverse the trend towards out-of-town and online shopping which has left one in seven high street shops standing empty.

Norfolk experts say that one of the problems is the issue of “convenience” when it comes to shopping at the supermarket and large chain stores rather than the local shops.

Professor Paul Dobson, head of Norwich Business School at the University of East Anglia, said: “If you offer something different then it works. Near where I live, Acle has got two butchers in the village because they are doing something which serves the community. Better value is often offered by the markets and fresh vegetables.

“It’s about breaking the habit and once you break the habit of going to the supermarket because it’s convenient then you can get into the habit of using the local shops and market.

“With markets and small shops, once they have gone they are not going to come back so use them or lose them.”

In terms of the future, however, it does not look as though the parking situation is going to improve any time soon.

The Norwich Independent Climate Change Commission, for example, would like to see a £1 per ticket levy on car parking in Norwich city centre, with the proceeds pumped into a low carbon fighting fund.

And with a bus fare into the city centre costing a family of three £4.60, they are more likely to park for free at a supermarket or retail park.

“People are just spending less. People are nervous about the future and therefore are spending less than they used to, they are being more cautious. Lack of confidence hits the retailers first,” said Caroline Williams, chief executive of the Norwich and Norfolk Chamber of Commerce.

“People are also not moving house as much. Moving house generates extra spending as people buy sofas, curtains, but people are not moving as house as much and first time buyers are struggling to get on the property ladder so people are not spending as much - instead they make do rather than buy new.”