A priest and his congregation have warned proposed new parking restrictions “will be the end of the church” they pray at.

Plans to extend to weekends Controlled Parking Zones (CPZs) on the streets around St Nicholas Greek Church in Godolphin Road , Shepherd’s Bush, would mean parishioners would not be able to attend services, and could lead to its closure, said Father Stavros Solomou.

A petition set up by Fr Solomou has so far been signed by hundreds of people.

The church is within parking Zone J, which imposes week-day only parking restrictions, but is currently subject to a public consultation on whether to extend the CPZ to include weekends.

The main service in the Greek Orthodox Church is the Divine Liturgy which takes place every Sunday morning. According to Fr Solomou, a weekend CPZ would lead to falling attendances and dire consequences for the church, which opened in 1965. He said: “Our parish goes from Shepherd’s Bush to Heathrow and the vast majority travel by car. It will make it very difficult for parishioners.

“We have been coming to this church every Sunday for the past 50 years without any complaints from the neighbours. If restrictions on parking are extended to Sundays then it will be the end of the church.”

He has even set forward a compromise solution, to start the restrictions after 2.30pm on Sundays, once services have finished and worshippers have left the church.

Stephen Alambritis moved to Fulham from Cyprus in 1964, and has been part of its congregation church since it opened. A warden of the church, he now lives in Morden and drives there each Sunday.

He said: “I would worry for the attendance there [if there was controlled parking on Sunday morning]. It would be a very sad day if the church had to close because attendances went down.

“It’s been there 50 years and it’s really part of the scene. Residents know the church and love the church.

“It’s not just the Liturgy which would be affected, weddings and christenings will also be compromised, it would impact the churches income as well.

“But we think there is a compromise. We would rather there is no change, we are quite respectful of the area, but if there is change there is a compromise available.”

Cllr Wesley Harcourt, the council’s head of environment, transport and residents’ services, said: “We want to find out what parking arrangements have the most support in Zone J and are consulting on a number of options in response to residents’ requests.

"We understand there are a variety of views and we are consulting as widely as possible within the zone.

“The views of everybody will be taken into consideration and no decisions will be made until the consultation is closed and the results are analysed.”