MORE changes will be coming to Wokingham town centre’s road layouts over the coming days including a 20mph speed limit and safety barriers in Rectory Road and Wiltshire Road.
Last weekend, Wokingham Borough Council followed government guidelines to install temporary barriers in the town centre to allow pavements to be widened. This makes it easier for pedestrians to socially distance from other shoppers as stores started to reopen.
However, there have been some criticisms on social media over the changes.
Wokingham Borough Council’s executive member for highways and transport, Pauline Jorgensen, said: “We’ve been told by the Government to do this, and we had to do it quickly, so we knew we might not get it right the first time, this is the reason we used temporary bollards.
“Barriers were in place last Monday when the shops were able to re-open, and we’ve been monitoring and tweaking the layout since then.
“We are working with the town council, Wokingham Business Association and individual businesses to make sure we are aware of all of the issues and we will do what we can to meet everyone’s needs.
“At the end of the day, though, our key priority is pedestrian and vehicular safety.”
The second round of changes involves the installation of temporary barriers in Rectory Road and Wiltshire Road and reducing the speed limit around the town centre to 20mph.
The council said that its highways team had been monitoring car and pedestrian use to ensure the barriers are in the right places and doing what they are intended to do, tweaking where necessary.
And the new 20mph speed limit will ensure vehicles are going slow enough to keep pedestrians safe.
Executive member for regeneration Charlotte Haitham Taylor said, “We know it doesn’t look pretty and might cause traffic to move a bit more slowly than usual, but it allows us to keep our pedestrians safe by giving them wider footways.
“Now more than ever it’s vital that we all support our local shops, to help them survive and thrive. Let’s all ‘stay safe, shop local, shop Wokingham Borough’.”
One of the problems identified by residents has been the removal of on-street parking spaces on one side of Rose Street. The council said that the 30-minute free parking bays will also be shared with residents’ parking.
“We have tried to keep as much of the on-street parking as possible and have not removed any residential permit parking,” said executive member for highways and transport Pauline Jorgensen.
“There are a couple of locations where we have had to temporarily remove some parking, in particular the disabled bays on Rose Street, however, there are disabled spaces available in the car park next to the church which can be used instead.
“We’ve also had to remove spaces on Peach Street near the junction with Easthampstead Road, as we can’t allow vehicles to reverse into a single lane of traffic.
“The Easthampstead Road car park alternative is just a few minutes’ walk away and businesses affected by the change all have rear access for deliveries and loading/unloading.”
And the changes have been welcomed by The Wokingham Business Association, which aims to help promote and support businesses within the town centre.
In a statement, they said: “It’s been great to see the council supporting our local businesses and working to ensure the safety of pedestrians coming into and moving around the town.
“It’s been a hard couple of months for retail shops, and we are happy to be working with the borough and town councils to launch the re-opening of Wokingham town.”
