Question
The handling of the town centre regeneration project has caused considerable distress for residents in my ward. People have told me how difficult they find it to navigate the town, especially older people, parents with prams, and those with disabilities. Many vulnerable people, such as people with learning disabilities, have lost their independence as they simply cannot find their way around the town. Traffic congestion has been utterly appalling and is turning many people away.
The project has suffered unexpected delays and some local businesses I have spoken to have seen their takings plummet as people go to Bracknell or Reading instead of subjecting themselves to the chaos of the town centre. More action needs to be taken now to ensure residents can continue to use their town successfully while the works are completed. What concrete steps will be taken to improve the town centre for residents and businesses during the remainder of these works?
Minutes:
The handling of the town centre regeneration project has caused considerable distress for residents in my ward. People have told me how difficult they find it to navigate the town, especially older people, parents with prams, and those with disabilities. Many vulnerable people, such as people with learning disabilities, have lost their independence as they simply cannot find their way around the town. Traffic congestion has been utterly appalling and is turning many people away.
The project has suffered unexpected delays and some local businesses I have spoken to have seen their takings plummet as people go to Bracknell or Reading instead of subjecting themselves to the chaos of the town centre. More action needs to be taken now to ensure residents can continue to use their town successfully while the works are completed. What concrete steps will be taken to improve the town centre for residents and businesses during the remainder of these works?
Answer
Before dealing with the specific issues you raise, it is worth recapping on the reasons behind the regeneration and improvement work that is taking place in Wokingham. The works now progressing stem from a realisation that we had to make massive investment to secure a vibrant future for the town centre. This need was clearly articulated by residents and businesses, who had rightly realised that the town centre was in danger of a slow and painful death if we did not intervene. The town centre lacked the range of shops and other attractions to draw in and keep visitors and, thus, it was losing far too much retail spend to our neighbours. Much of the land in the town centre was in the hands of private investors who lacked the ability to get a regeneration underway.
The solution to this crisis was set out in our Core Strategy and the Wokingham Town Centre Masterplan both which were adopted in 2010 after significant consultation and engagement and is being delivered through a multi-million pound investment programme. We have become a major landowner in the town centre in order to ensure the necessary regeneration takes place and that the benefits will come to community as a whole. It is vital that people understand this in the context when considering the current, temporary problems.
On the specific points you raise, we are very aware of the disruption caused by the Market Place Improvement works and share your frustration at the unexpected and unavoidable, delays. Wokingham town centre has been more difficult to get to and the get around and we have apologised to residents and businesses for that.
However, our contractor Balfour Beatty, has worked extremely hard to maintain access to all shops and other businesses at all times and the site has remained fully accessible for all residents: given the scale of the work they are undertaking, this is a significant achievement. To give you some indication of the scale, enough earth has been excavated from the site to fill an Olympic swimming pool and contractors are now laying the 3,000 square metres of high-quality York Stone paving that will provide the fantastic finished product. They have had to deal with extremely difficult and unforeseen underground issues and are rectifying problems with exiting utilities pipeworks.
We have taken access very seriously and members of the project team and the contractors have met CLASP, that is the local self-advocacy group for people with learning disabilities, to listen to their problems and respond wherever possible. Through this engagement with CLASP, vulnerable adults have met directly with those on site so that they felt more comfortable to approach them if they were experiencing difficulties navigating the area. CLASP has also helped us improve signage.
It should be pointed out that the Market Place improvements will create a far more accessible town centre and that one of the main benefits will be to provide an even surface and uncluttered area that will be a lot easier for older people, those with mobility issues and people pushing prams and buggies, to get around. During the design stage two dedicated sessions were held with disability access groups who helped to shape the final design to reflect some of their specific needs.
We know this is a difficult time for the town centre and have worked with the town council and local business via the Wokingham Business Association to promote and support businesses during the works. This support has included organising and publicising events to draw people into the town, producing promotional online videos that have reached thousands of people, paying for advertising in the local media and providing free advice to businesses hoping to apply for Business Rates reduction. We will continue to work with the Town Council and town centre businesses to promote the town during and after the Market Place works.
Ultimately, the key to promoting the town centre is to talk it up – there are many great reasons to come into Wokingham, even during the current works, and there will be even more once they (and the wider regeneration) are complete. I would have thought that all members who represent town centre wards would be able to provide genuine support to local businesses by backing the town rather than attempting to run it down.
Supplementary Question
It is clear that residents in Wokingham are not happy with the way the regeneration has been handled. With this in mind will the Executive Member meet with me and with local residents to discuss our ideas, such as better access routes across the works to avoid lengthy diversions to get from A to B, much larger maps and much larger information boards at each key intersection, wider walkways to allow better access for prams and wheelchairs, more directional signs to shops, and lastly meet and greet staff at key intersections to help direct people at busy periods?
Supplementary Answer
Thank you for your suggestions. I do note that you are actually meeting with the Head of Regeneration and a senior Planning Officer. I will attempt to come and join you at that meeting so that we can actually discuss this further. With regards to meeting people we are planning a series of new sessions with all stakeholder groups where we are going to be looking forward with the joint regeneration and highways responsibilities that I now have for the town centre. Previously I was only responsible for regeneration so therefore I could not comment on highways. Gladly this now incorporates highways so that is a more efficient way of dealing with the whole process so I am sure you will share with us when we do have these stakeholder groups and will encourage your input as well.