The executive councillor responsible for economic development insisted Wokingham town centre is performing strongly in an answer to a question at Thursday’s full council meeting.
James Westhorpe asked Cllr Mark Ashwell, the executive member for economic development, sport, leisure and the arts, a question based on Wokingham Today’s front page story on February 12 that included encouraging footfall data for the town.
James said: “I’d like to condemn any verbal abuse received by Mark, or any other members of the council or public who are providing a public service to improve our local community, no matter what position or views they may hold.
“It’s unacceptable and I’m sorry to have read that.
“Could you please explain the extent of Huq’s data coverage for the town centre during the study period quoted in Wokingham Today, and whether the dataset distinguishes between people walking and people remaining in vehicles (for example, those stationary in traffic queues caused by the ongoing roadworks, such as on Station Road between October and January), and in particular, are mobile devices inside vehicles counted in the same way as on-street pedestrians, given that congestion at peak times often exceeded the 10-minute threshold used in the statistics, and could therefore artificially inflate apparent town centre activity?”
Wokingham borough council, together with other authorities and companies, collects footfall data from mobile phone signals through Huq, a company that supplies such information.
Cllr Ashwell replied, saying: “We’ve been collecting Huq data for over a year, and will continue to do so.
“Huq’s methodology is designed to provide a population-weighted picture of footfall by identifying where devices are based, assessing coverage across different areas and then applying weighting to ensure the data reflects the actual population distribution.
“This creates a more accurate measure of visitor numbers over time.
“The data, as you say, also distinguishes between visits and passing through, with a visit defined as a stay of more than 10 minutes.
“You are correct to highlight that traffic delays, particularly around Station Road, could affect that data.
“This was recognised, and those areas were excluded from the data set to avoid distortion.
“Overall, the Huq data supports the view that our town is performing strongly against national trends.
“We should focus on promoting this positive story and supporting our local businesses.”
In his supplementary question, James said: “We saw about three weeks ago that another store in our local town centre, Mumbai Wokingham, closed.
“This is becoming a more than common occurrence, unfortunately, over the past six months.
“What renewed efforts is the council taking to support local businesses beyond what you previously commented over recent months?”
Cllr Ashwell replied: “We’ve got to be realistic about retail and the council cannot dictate how people shop.
“Some businesses will struggle if they do not adapt, so opening a shop is an act of courage, there’s no two ways about it.
“We recognise that where we can help, we do. “We support startups. We work with traders and, give businesses the best chance of success.
“And business has to lead. It has to lead to be taken seriously. And we have a leader right now in Wokingham town centre; Georgina from Antique Rose.
“She’s chaired two meetings that have been supported by us and the rest of the community.
“And we’ve got a new brand, Indy Wokingham which is superb, and you’re welcome to our next meeting.”
