A NEW REPORT that looks at jobs and salaries says Wokingham is one of the top 10 declining commuter towns.
But those on the ground say otherwise.
Card payment provider Dojo looked at the property market in the town, as well as footfall.
It believes Wokingham has had the ninth-largest decline, at 25% during the pandemic.
It said there were 5.2 job vacancies per 1,000 people, and said town centre footfall fell by 31%.
While house prices rose 3.4%, Dojo said the combined effect of the indicators meant the town fared worse than it did before the pandemic.
However, this has been disputed by town and borough councillors.
“I certainly don’t recognise the picture of Wokingham this survey tries to paint,” said Cllr Stuart Munro, executive member for business and economic development at the borough council.
He said he was sceptical over the data, and said footfall likely fell because “residents were fantastic in following the advice to stay home and keep themselves and others safe”.
Cllr Munro said far from declining, Wokingham has seen unprecedented interest in the past year.
The town was bucking national trends with more than 20 new businesses opening and more set to open in the coming months.
“Feedback on recovery from many of the businesses has been good and figures, such as car parking and residential sales, show demand remains high from people wanting to visit or live in the town,” the councillor added.
“Obviously we won’t be able to understand the full impact of the pandemic on our economy for
a while to come and we recognise it has been tough for most businesses.
“This is why we’ve continued to offer strong support from the council and central government with grants and rate reliefs of many tens of millions of pounds, as well as a range of other initiatives.”
Cllr Munro said the pandemic recovery is one of the borough council’s biggest priorities.
“We’ve established a strong ongoing corporate recovery programme which focuses on areas such as community wellbeing as well as business and the economy, to make sure we can keep Wokingham a great place to be,” he said.
READ MORE: Wokingham is in top ten declining commuter towns, new report claims
Cllr Imogen Shepherd-DuBey, leader of Wokingham Town Council said she does not consider the town to be declining.
But she does have some concerns.
She said housing is more affordable in Reading and Slough, two towns considered to be growing, by Dojo.
“Demand for housing is high, despite the high prices, and we have a shortage of truly affordable housing,” she said.
“People very much want to live in Wokingham, which has a relatively low crime and schools that achieve good results, but we are in danger of excluding some of the workforce that we need for a balanced society, due to our unaffordable housing.”
Shopping paints a muddier picture, the councillor said.
“We have a boom in restaurants and cafés,” Cllr Shepherd-DuBey said.
“With people commuting less, they want to eat out and meet friends in town.
“Our market traders seem to be thriving, especially those who are food-related.
“However, certain sectors do seem to be suffering more, particularly the clothing retailers.”
She said some are reporting a 30% loss of footfall in the town, compared to pre-covid times, thought due to be a rise in online shopping.
“If [people are] looking for a wider range of clothing retailers to compare, we really cannot compete with Reading or Bracknell,” she added.
“Wokingham’s niche is smaller, boutique stores – again probably not for those on tighter budgets.”
Cllr Shepherd-DuBey said if the town becomes unaffordable for too many, service costs may need
to rise, to subsidise lower-paid workers to live locally or travel into the area.
“I would rather we sought a balance and made space for everyone who will contribute to our society,” she added. “If that means we lose some momentum while other nearby towns catch up – I think it will be to everyone’s benefit.”
Labour’s Cllr Rachel Burgess said there wasn’t much to learn from the report.
“Whether Wokingham has declined relative to other towns or not, the fact remains that we are still left with a broken housing market and far too few genuinely affordable houses, and a pandemic that has left many more people struggling to keep up with the cost of living in Wokingham,” she said.
“Many working families will soon be losing £20 a week in Universal Credit. Surveys aside, that is a real life impact that the Conservatives will be inflicting on people in Wokingham.”
The research by Dojo looked at property prices, average salary, property sales, job vacancies and transit station, workplace and residential movements on Google Maps. It generated a growth figure and was compared to pre-pandemic.
