Agenda item

Caroline Smith asked the Executive Member for Regeneration the following question:

 

Question

With the recent closure of Denmark Street Car Park and the lack of footfall, is the Council going to implement some incentives to increase footfall to the town, especially since the near completion of regeneration and encouraging new retailers?

Minutes:

 

Question

With the recent closure of Denmark Street Car Park and the lack of footfall, is the Council going to implement some incentives to increase footfall to the town, especially since the near completion of regeneration and encouraging new retailers?

 

Answer

The Council has invested significantly in Wokingham’s future and has already had phenomenal success in attracting new businesses to the town, with the regeneration flagged as a key factor in why the Sunday Times named Wokingham as one of the country’s most thriving communities this month; and I hope you saw that article. 

 

The last year has seen a fantastic range of national and independent stores open including businesses like Waterstones, GAILS, Oliver Bonas, Neon Sheep, the Blue Orchid bakery and the Leafy Elephant at Peach Place to name just a few.

 

Feedback from residents about the new businesses has been very positive, with new tenants also reporting positive trading conditions, demonstrating that there is footfall in the town centre and that interest continues to grow from new people coming to Wokingham and I certainly have seen that when I have been going around.

 

But the Council recognises that, whilst a great range of shops and businesses is an important part of increasing footfall, a town centre also needs to offer that little bit more with things to do and reasons for people to visit the town centre also.

 

That is why facilities such as the new cafes, the park and the play area, the Cinema, the hotel and the Carnival offer with its Clip ‘n Climb, the soft play and the extended community uses, are also so absolutely vital. They are the types of experience that you simply cannot replicate on line and they continue to draw people to the town centres.

 

This is also why we have spent a lot of time and effort in designing our new spaces at Elms Field and also Peach Place to make them the perfect location for existing and new events bringing the community together. In addition to being used for existing events like the forthcoming Winter Carnival, we are also running some trial sessions for free entertainment in Peach Place over the coming weeks to help promote the town centre and encourage new footfall to the town.

 

Alongside this we will continue to liaise closely with the Town Council and joint fund the ‘Love Wokingham’ marketing work to help promote the town centre and businesses and market Wokingham as a great destination to visit.

 

By regenerating the town centre we have put in place the right infrastructure to enable Wokingham to continue to thrive. And it doesn’t stop there as we will continue to review and support the town, working with our residents and with our businesses, to ensure Wokingham achieves the success it deserves both now and long into the future.

 

Supplementary Question

These all sound very wonderful things but businesses are closing down.  Should we not be undertaking better marketing?

 

Supplementary Answer

As I said in my answer before we are working very closely with the Town Council as well around marketing and we are working with the existing businesses as well to support them.

 

In terms of businesses closing down one of the businesses that is closing down at the moment is part of a very large chain who have been having major difficulties which is very, very well known but there are a lot of businesses clamouring to come to Wokingham.  They see what other businesses have come here and they want to be in close proximity to those.  It is really exciting the kind of people that have been approaching us and the Regeneration Team because they have seen what is going on here and I think it is very, very positive. 

 

So I am not down-beat.  I am really excited about what is going on here and I think we all should be celebrating the success of the regeneration of Wokingham.