It was revealed that no business impact assessment was carried out prior to the latest roadworks in and around Wokingham.
At October’s meeting of full council at Wokingham borough council, Philip Cunnington asked Cllr Adrian Betterright, the executive councillor for active travel, transport and highways: “With protracted and various highways works affecting access to Wokingham town centre and persuading residents to avoid the town as a result, at least until works are finished, what evaluations did you complete during the preparation phase, and during the implementation phase, to understand the effect this would have on patronage, turnover and profitability for Wokingham town’s small businesses?”
Due to his inability to attend the following written answer was provided.
Cllr Betterridge replied. He said: “I assume you are referring primarily to the works for the south Wokingham distributor road.
“One of the aims of this project is to increase capacity on the Finchampstead Road, one of only two routes into Wokingham town from the south.
“Whilst this work is underway some additional delay in getting into or through the town, is inevitable.
“Whilst the impact on traffic was looked at carefully, I am not aware of any specific evaluations into the impact on businesses in advance of the work, and given that the road closure is unavoidable, I am not sure what this would have achieved.
“Instead, our focus has been on planning the works to deliver the project with the least impact on the community, communicating clearly, and in a timely way with businesses and residents about the closures, and mitigations, and of course, delivering the project to schedule, which is currently going very well.
“We have, of course, been monitoring the measures we have of what is going on in the town.
“From September 1, 2025 to October 20,, there has been a small reduction in car parking tickets brought in the town centre compared with a like-for-like period from last year, but this is a reduction of only 2.5%.
“Of course, not everybody travels into town by car, and there is some evidence of more people walking and cycling into town, noting that the roads which are closed to vehicles are normally open for walking.
“The measure we have of footfall, based on mobile phone data, seems to indicate a slight increase in footfall over recent months.
“Delays at the station level crossing are very dependent on the time that the level crossing gates are closed, but outside peak traffic and train times initial delays are only a matter of a few minutes.
“I would encourage everyone not to paint too bleak a picture, which may in itself dissuade visitors.
“I do, of course, have every sympathy with the businesses who work hard to build and maintain their customer base.
“The retail climate is challenging for many reasons, and our Economic Development team is working closely with businesses, large and small, to help them through this period, and to look forward to serving the residents of the 2,000 new homes in south Wokingham, which this project will bring into the town.”
