Recently introduced parking measures could turn Wokingham into a ghost town, according to the general manager of a town centre hospitality business.
Will Upton of The Rose Inn in Market Place has revealed he will be offsetting parking costs up to three hours for his customers on a Sunday, joining a growing number of businesses who are offering such incentives to entice people into the town.
He believes the increases will have a detrimental impact on the town.
He told Wokingham Today: “The increase in cost and timings of Wokingham Borough Council’s car parking charges are indefensible nonsense because, far from increasing income, I believe it will impact the amount of trade the town does.
“I’m fearful that over time, the council’s policies that directly impact trade, purpose, use and
viability will turn Wokingham into a ghost town.
“Most of these policies appear to be ideologically led, are incompetently managed and often remove any democratic involvement.”
He added that during a recent meeting with customers, parking charges were high on their list of concerns, alongside vacant premises and businesses closing.
He added: “Since the meeting we’ve received comments on our feedback forms from guests who had a great experience with us but won’t return because of the unreasonable parking charges.
“The general opinion is that the council should be encouraging locals, and those from further afield, to come to Wokingham town centre to support local businesses.
“The hike in the cost to park, and the extended hours, is already having a damaging impact.
“That’s the reason we are joining other retailers and offering to offset our guests’ parking charges on a Sunday for up to three hours against their food bills with a valid, dated receipt.”
In reply, Cllr Paul Fishwick, Wokingham Borough Council’s executive member for active travel, transport and highways, said: “Reluctantly the council needed to increase car parking charges across the borough last month.
“There had been no increases in charges for over five years and there was a shortfall in the car parking revenue budget of over £600,000.
“The car parking charges we had to introduce are necessary to help cover this shortfall in the budget. These changes were not ideological; they were a practical response to rising costs.
“But we are aware of the risk to local businesses, which is why we kept charges lower or very similar to our neighbouring town centres. If you go for Sunday lunch in Wokingham, you do not pay more to use our car parks than if you use Bracknell Forest or Reading car parks.
“We are determined to keep all our centres vibrant and successful. We obviously monitor how they are doing and will react if it looks like problems could develop, but at the moment Wokingham is a success story with more than 95% of commercial units in our regeneration portfolio occupied.”
