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MP John Redwood believes parking meters in Wokingham will damage trade
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"Parking meters will damage trade in Wokingham"

July 01, 2009

Parking meters could help kill off Wokingham’s remaining shops, MP John Redwood claims.

Mr Redwood is fighting council plans to introduce the meters to town centre parking bays.

He said: “The last thing we need is to put people off coming into the town.

“The town centre has been weakened by the delay of the developer in implementing the planning application granted to him to renovate and improve the town centre.”

Drivers could be charged £1 for 30 minutes’ parking in bays in roads including Peach Street and Rose Street.

Parking meter bid sparks fresh anger

The proposals supported by Wokingham Borough Council’s executive are being looked at by its overview and scrutiny management committee.

Councillor Keith Baker, executive member for highways and transport, said motorists had been flouting the restrictions in the town centre bays for some time.

He added: “It’s not fair that businesses could be missing out on trade because short-term parking bays are clogged up with the cars of commuters and town centre workers.”

But Mr Redwood said the plans were better suited to central London than Wokingham.

He added although Wokingham is a good town, it faces tough competition from Reading, Bracknell and The Meadows in Sandhurst.

Parking meters would cost £140,000 to launch and £150,000 a year to operate, which includes £50,000 to fund support from police. They would generate £350,000 income a year.

For the full story see today’s Wokingham Times.

Do you think it’s a good idea to introduce parking meters in Wokingham town centre? Tell us what you think by leaving your comments below.

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Sign my petition to stop this happening http://www.gopetition.co.uk/petitions/wokingham-council.html or email me at stop30minutecharge@googlemail.com

Kate J, Wokingham
12/08/2009 at 10:22

This is a terrible idea. Shame on the councillors who voted in favour of charging £1 for 30 mins.

Norreys Nag, Wokingham
02/07/2009 at 09:44

John Redwood is correct installing parking meters in Wokingham could very well put off shopping in the town and in the follow on from this would mean loss of jobs at the very time when these are needed more then ever. What ever way WBC decide, if implementing further parking restrictions at all will only push shoppers to other places, where councils and business work with community and not make for the them and us type of authority they are more forward thinking and not scare away potential shoppers as they know that a dead town does not generate profit or jobs or council tax. Taking a judgemental stance towards what Reading or any other larger town has done just is not appropriate for Wokingham is not to be firmly judged as being one of the same. After all having a town different is what we hope will encourage people here in the first place. As a community trying to resolve problems faced by pressures on space for vehicles, take care to not loose sight of a town which does desperately need to claim a reputation of it's own for gaining and more important keeping customers coming back and this means being passionate about ACCESS to and in Wokingham, and is why Wokingham Area Access Group is working hard to achieve this sometimes in a subtle manner and at other times be it in a very forthright manner but trying to build communities where ALL people can live and that includes equal access, equal rights for people with disabilities. Maureen Erdwin

MAURMORE, Three Mile Cross. Berkshire
02/07/2009 at 04:51

If people aren't currently being given tickets for overstaying the 30 minutes, what is going to be the incentive to feed the meters if there's still nobody to issue the parking fine?

LD
01/07/2009 at 21:54

Wokingham is a ghost town nowadays and I always hated spending 60p an hour (or whatever it was) to park at the library. £1 for 30 minutes is scandalous!

Michael Kinghorn, Kissimmee, Florida
01/07/2009 at 17:53

It's bad enough having to drive into the town centre in the first place. Having to pay to park just adds insult to injury. I love coming to Wokingham but this would put me right off.

JA, Caversham
01/07/2009 at 17:30

Paying for parking = revenue for WBC = End of story.

My local shops have hired a private firm who will clamp you if you are not a customer. I no longer park at my local shops in protest. I’m sure that the benefit to WBC far outweighs that to local traders.

Cheery OLeary
01/07/2009 at 15:37

Too right RR. Wokingham should do what Reading have done and contract out parking enforcement to a private company that has a real incentive to ticket miscreant motorists. Guaranteed income and no need for meters. Simples!

JC, Woodley
01/07/2009 at 15:31

Stating the obvious but would it not be cheaper for Wokingham to take over enforcement of waiting and parking restrictions including the existing 30minute limited waiting bays from the non existent Thames Valley Police Traffic Wardens.

It's called decriminalisation and it's done by many other local authorities. No need to pay for machines, just pay for a few enforcement officers to walk past every 45 minutes noting number plates and stick a ticket on anyone there over 30 minutes.