SHOPS’ FORUM TO HELP TOWN
RETAILERS, business owners and councillors came together last Wednesday evening for a workshop on issues facing Wokingham town during the ongoing regeneration works.
As The Wokingham Paper has extensively revealed over the past few months, road closures around Market Place have caused gridlock around the town, footfall decrease and retailers such as Cara and Wetherspoon planning to move out.
The session, held in Wokingham town hall, was facilitated by both the town and borough council.
Nearly 50 people – including The Wokingham Paper – attended the evening event, which was chaired by town clerk Jan Nowecki.
Guests moved around three areas, dedicated to discussing issues relating to the marketing of the town centre, communication of the works and the works themselves.
They could also speak to Wokingham Borough Council Executive members and officers about various aspects of the works that affected them.
Speaking before the discussions started, the leader of Wokingham. Borough Council, Cllr Charlotte Haitham Taylor, said that they understood there were a number of different factors that were causing frustrations for retailers during the works.
“We’re here to listen to what you have to say,” she said, adding that the adoption of our Make It Free To P campaign was one example of that listening.
“We hope it brings more people into the town centre,” she said.
A number of issues were raised during the discussions, including better signage around the town centre, traffic flow, and having better communications, which should be kept simple and regular.
Dust from the works was also raised as an issue, and a suggestion was made to introduce free parking for retailers to help them as they go about their business.
Manjeet Gill, the interim chief executive of Wokingham Borough Council, said that the sessions were about two-way communication between the councils and the retailers and urged for support.
“It’s about hearing your views,” she pledged, adding that groups such as the Business Association “had a very important partnership with the council”.
“I’d like to hear from people who want to engage,” she said.
After she had finished she invited the Executive Member for Regeneration, Cllr Stuart Munro to speak, but he declined.
Cllr Haitham Taylor brought the evening to a close with a summing up. She also thanked Mrs Nowecki for organising the event.
“There’s been some really good solutions,” she said. “Some ideas don’t need much of a budget and we can implement them.”