Town centres are struggling across the country, a leading councillor has said after shop closures sparked concerns for Wokingham – adding the council will ‘do what we can’ to offer support.
Wokingham residents raised fears for the future of their town centre earlier in January after TG Art Gallery announced it would close in February.
Some suggested that Wokingham is struggling to compete with its neighbour Bracknell, while others blamed town centre parking charges for reducing footfall.
But Wokingham Borough councillor David Cornish – responsible for business – said that rising inflation combined with the rise of internet shopping were problems for high streets across the country.
He said: “Town centres nationally are struggling – the changing nature of how we shop, with the increase in online shopping, inflation, high interest rates and the cost of living crisis, is impacting town centres up and down the country.”
Cllr Cornish added that the council had appointed a member of staff dedicated to supporting town and village centre businesses.
He said: “We have a new town centre development officer who is engaging with our town centre businesses to see how we can help them thrive.
“We are in a difficult financial position, but we are committed to finding innovative ways to support our local businesses.”
Cllr Paul Fishwick – responsible for car parks – defended the council’s decision to increase charges in its town centre car parks last year.
Wokingham Borough Council said a study into the impact of the increases was ‘still being finalised.’ But it claims data says there hasn’t been a ‘significant negative impact’ on the number of people using the car parks.
Cllr Fishwick said if charges hadn’t risen, the council would have had to make cuts to other services.
He said: “We knew before we did it that raising car parking charges was going to create some noise, but we knew then and still believe now that it was the right thing to do.
“Car parking charges hadn’t been increased for over five years and needed to close a forecasted £600,000 to £800,000 shortfall in the car parking service budget. This raises essential funds that go back into maintaining and improving our highway network.
“If we didn’t do this, we’d have to make tough decisions in other areas that would be just as unpopular if not more so in other services that residents depend on.”
