Concerns have been raised that introducing parking charges at free-of-use sites could have a ‘significant impact’ on the sporting and arts community.
As first reported by Wokingham Today in November 2024, Wokingham Borough Council is considering introducing charges for car parks where none currently exist, including at Cantley Park, Avery Corner, and other sites in Shinfield and Woodley.
Fourteen council-owned car parks are currently free of charge.
The council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee were told in November that a ‘desktop assessment’ had been carried out over the income the council could make from the new charges.
But concerns have been raised that introducing fees to Cantley Park could ‘significantly impact local sports and the community’ as well as volunteers at the Wokingham Theatre.
Cantley Park, off Twyford Road, hosts sports facilities including football pitches, tennis courts, hockey pitches, archery, and children’s play equipment.
Sue Daykin, a volunteer at Wokingham Theatre on the Cantley Park site, will ask a question about the potential charges at this week’s Wokingham Borough Council full council meeting.
Ms Daykin has asked whether volunteers could be exempted from the potential charges, writing: “All our crews (set builders, wardrobes, props etc) are all volunteers and spend a great deal of the working week there to create the spectacle which is used by actors.”
While the theatre has its own car park, Ms Daykin said those using it must drive through the council-run site to access it.
In November, council officers said the plans were in the early stages as the authority must ‘establish the actual current parking usage or occupancy’ of each site.
An executive report said that it would be ‘reasonable to assume’ that introducing charges would ‘at least initially reduce parking usage’ at the sites.
A petition against charges being introduced at Avery Corner Car Park near California Cross was launched in December.
The Conservative Group said the community had ‘suffered enough’ following the lengthy resurfacing works of the intersection between Finchampstead Road and Nine Mile Ride.
But Labour councillor Marie Louise-Wright said that no member ‘is pleased that this has to happen’, and argued it was a ‘response to the polycrisis facing local authorities everywhere’.
