IT READS like a who’s who of Wokingham’s retail scene – 40 different shops from across the town centre have written to the borough council to express their frustration with the ongoing regeneration works.

And as Market Place prepares to reopen this weekend, six months behind schedule and still not completely finished, the ire of the retailers is plain to see.

The letter calls on Wokingham Borough Council (WBC) to explain why the retailers have been offered no financial support during the past 12 months.

Last September, work began in earnest on the regeneration of Market Place, closing the area around the town hall, shutting Peach Street and Denmark Street and also seeing the market be moved from its historic home to the the area around Erftstadt Court.

And with the opening of The Lexicon in Bracknell at same time as work began in Wokingham, shoppers turned their back on the unique retail offering of the town centre in favour of the new shops that had opened in our neighbouring town.

Although the council offered a free parking after 3pm initiative from November to March this year as well as some marketing support, retailers feel that the offer of help was too little and too late. And while the council says it has offered full support to businesses wanting to receive rate reductions, the retailers say they want, and expect, to pay no business rates.

The letter, which is published exclusively in The Wokingham Paper, is a unique moment as so many retailers have joined forces to sign it.

Gill Bell from John Bell Carpets said: “The council should have been helping from the beginning, as has happened with other councils. I cannot see where they programmed anything into their original budget.

“Businesses will never make up the money that has been lost, and we seem to have been treated with a certain lack of disrespect.

“We have to go through an arduous task of applying to Vail Williams to try and get a reduction in all our business rates, which could take over a year.

“Clearly any schemes the council have offered have not helped, because people are still struggling. There are some businesses in dire straits, who cannot pay their rent, and rates. They say they have £50,000 to help but there is a petition signed by 40 businesses, so it won’t go far.”

She added: “I think the regeneration will be a good thing, but more consideration should have been given to existing businesses, and not just the regeneration.”

Norreys ward Labour councillor Rachel Burgess backed the retailers, saying that WBC hadn’t done as much as they could to help.

She said: “Whatever happens now it’s too little too late for some of our retailers and restaurateurs – the idea that the Council has done more than enough to help is laughable.

“This Conservative Council’s support for local businesses while the town centre regeneration works drag on has been pitiful.

“For a start they should be doing much more to encourage people to shop locally – where are the incentives to keep people coming to Wokingham to support local businesses?

“The Council’s hardship rate relief is specifically designed for exceptional circumstances like regeneration projects. But the budget they have allowed for this in recent years is a mere £50k, a figure that hasn’t been increased at all to take account of the market place project!

“£50k is nothing compared to the size of this problem and shows just how poorly our local retailers have been valued.”

And in a letter to The Wokingham Paper of August 16, on page 16, Liberal Democrat Prue Bray said: “Many of those businesses [who have claimed rate relief] are still waiting for their claims to be considered months after applying.  Many of them are really struggling due to potential customers being driven away by the building work that the council has been doing.”

The letter from retailers

We are fully aware that Wokingham town centre needed to be regenerated, but sadly it has caused considerable disruption, and currently is not conducive to attracting existing, and new footfall to local businesses. Especially as the regeneration of Bracknell Town centre is nearing completion.

The availability, and vast range of quality stores in Bracknell offer the ideal shopping experience. We all agree the Wokingham shopping experience has become very stale in recent years, and something needed to be done.

It is our clear understanding that when a town undergoes a major regeneration, not refurbishment, that there is a period of adjustment in the rates payable to support local businesses, who are trying to survive this period, commonly known as the localism act.

We request your rationale regarding no financial support to enable local businesses to survive this most difficult trading period. We would also ask what amount of money was originally programmed in to your budget to help us pay our business rates, and rent.

Many businesses are struggling, and saying sorry is just not good enough. We want, and expect to pay no business rates. We would point out that Wokingham Borough Council would have known about the disruption caused to businesses three years ago to Boots, Clarks shoes, John Wood Sports, and Strange the jewellers when scaffolding was placed in front of their buildings, and for a year, and a half, 50% was given off their business rates.

What did you expect to happen during the regeneration? We should have had relief from when the work started to completion.

You have offered to pay for the services of Vail Williams in dealing with the Valuation Office, which is a long and complicated process, what you fail to say is that we have to give them 25% of what they save us.

Vitality Health Foods, Timpsons, Snappy Snaps, Funtastic Toys, Coast To Coast, Anytime Fitness, The Red Lion, Haringtons Hairdressers, John Bell Carpets, Hollywood Nails, The Grape Escape, The Gig House, Designs For Living, Toni & Guy, Wokingham Tandoori, Wellington Jewellers, Inspirations Hair Salon, Leightons Opticians, Pure Bliss, TG Art Gallery, Wokingham Decor, The Flower Corner Wokingham, Zara Kitchen Design, Dollshouse Boutique, Oslar, Strange The Jewellers, Country Dry Cleaners, The Duke’s Head, The Crispin, Rossini Restaurant, Kerry Roberts, Stitchery Do, Kaanaanmaa, The Retreat, Aroma, Jay Printers, H20, Ruby Rose Beauty

‘We have offered a range of help’: Cllr Philip Mirfin, executive member for regeneration, responds to the retailers

A range of support has been offered via the local Business Association, following discussions with businesses last year, and continues to be available, but businesses must apply for it themselves.

Businesses are assessed individually, as each will have been affected differently.

This support includes access to local Section 47 Business Rates Relief, free consultancy support with how to seek national Business Rates Relief from Vail Williams, free marketing and advice through Love Wokingham, our offer to pre-fund the Wokingham Business Association to set up a local Business Improvement District to give businesses access to independent funding and other resources, plus the parking initiative Free After Three [which ran from November through to March].

What amount of money was originally programmed in to your budget to help us pay our business rates, and rent?

No maximum cap could be set for Section 47 Business Rates support, as businesses are being assessed individually.

Marketing, staffing costs, along with other resources, such as professional photography for businesses to use, are being funded as required.

There is also no cap on consultancy sessions with Vail Williams because we didn’t know how many businesses would come forward.

Many still haven’t, and we urge them to.

Retailers write: “We want, and expect to pay no business rates. WBC gave Boots, Clarks, John Wood Sports and Strange The Jewellers 50% off their business rates when scaffolding was put up three years ago … We should have had relief from when the work started to completion”.

We have no powers allowing businesses to avoid Business Rates, because these are a national tax controlled by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.

But we have written to  Wokingham MP John Redwood, on behalf of our local businesses, asking him to speed up the national process.

The discount for the companies you name was a reduction through the national relief scheme supported by Vail Williams.

You have offered to pay for the services of Vail Williams in dealing with the Valuation Office, which is a long, and complicated process. What you fail to say is that we have to give them 25% of the money they save us.

This support is free to businesses to give them the knowledge and tools to make their own discount claims.

But if businesses choose to appoint Vail Williams or another third party to make the claim on their behalf, this is a matter between the individual business and the company concerned.

The council isn’t involved and therefore cannot comment on the costs that a company charges for its services.

Has Wokingham Borough Council fulfilled its obligations to the Localism Act?

Absolutely, and some.

The council’s Localism Act 2011 obligations (Part 4 non-domestic rates) are met through the Section 47 Business Rates Relief scheme.

We have gone above our statutory obligations and introduced additional support such as the advice from Vail Williams and marketing schemes mentioned above.  

‘The Council has turned my dream into a nightmare’

ONE of Wokingham’s struggling retailers had admitted that they may not be around to celebrate the finished regeneration unless shoppers return to the town centre.

Jo Jackson, who runs Kerry Roberts Barbers in The Plaza, told The Wokingham Paper that she had been offered just £1,900 in rates rebate, which barely covers the £15,000 in lost custom over the past 12 months.

“How is this acceptable?” she asked. “I’m beside myself with the whole thing. I’m sick to death of the regeneration.

“I can’t sleep at night, I’ve a mortgage to pay, have three children and an overdraft to pay off. I just don’t know how I’m going to do it.”

She said that she was told her rates rebate was based on a percentage of her turnover, but a different business received the same amount.

“The council don’t understand what they’re doing to us. They just don’t think,” she said.

“It’s very likely that I could lose my shop. The trade is not going to come back for a long time.

“My customers are going to barbers outside of town, so why should they bother coming back?

“Later this month is our 30th anniversary, I should be celebrating but instead I’m in tears.”

Ms Jackson has worked at the salon since she was 14 and took it over four years ago.

“They’ve ruined my dream and turned it into a nightmare,” she said.

It took six months for her rates rebate to be decided by the council, and during that time her payments were put on hold. As a result she now has to make up the arrears.

“I can’t afford any of it,” she said.

“Paying my rent and my staff comes before Wokingham Borough Council.

“The chances are they could send bailiffs round. It’s totally disgusting, but I’m scared to be honest, it’s really scary.”

Despite this, Ms Jackson is determined to keep the popular salon going.

“I’m trying everything I can do. At the end of the day, it’s not just me who’s struggling.”