Traders and people living in the town centre have cautiously welcomed plans for the Station Road revamp, but say they need more information to see whether it will be a success.

Wokingham Borough Council launched a consultation yesterday, which runs until Friday, April 6, on blueprints for a £5 million link road designed to cut congestion.

Go-ahead for one-way Station Road

Under the plans Station Road will become one way, from Shute End and Reading Road towards the station. The link road will connect Reading Road at numbers 48 and 50 to Station Road at the existing entrance to the car park.

To buildings, 48 and 50 Reading Road, which provide accommodation and facilities for adults needing extra support, would be demolished to make way for a section of the link road.

Peter Must, chairman of the Wokingham Society, said the proposals for the area did seem reasonable but he would be looking forward to finding out more about how the plans had been created during the consultation stage.

He said: “They have been working on a number of different traffic models looking at the road usage and we want to see what made them arrive at this particular proposals for a one-way system.

“It will be interesting to see the reasoning behind it.

“We are certainly not saying there is anything wrong with it at this stage – we are waiting to see the models in the consultation.

“What we are keen to see is the other road proposals for the road across Elms Field and what purpose that is to serve.”

The Wokingham Society has invited Councillor Angus Ross, executive member for planning, to an open meeting on Wednesday, March 21, to find out more about the proposals.

The meeting will take place at the Bradbury Centre in Rose Street from 7.45pm and Mr Must encouraged interested people to go along and find out more about the proposals.

He also advised people to get involved in the consultation and make their thoughts known.

He said: “I think it’s going to be an interesting consultation and they are varying the presentation which will be welcome, particularly the extent to which they were talking about consultation and not only wanting feedback but to consider it and say afterwards what changes, if anything, need to be made.”

Mark Ashwell, executive board member of The Thames Valley Berkshire Local Enterprise Partnership, said the plans would provide a “fantastic” gateway to Wokingham.

He said: “The Wokingham Chamber of Commerce has been lobbying for the regeneration of Wokingham railway station and the rationalisation of the surrounding roads for the last five years.

“The imminent works are a product of this and others’ lobbying.

“The new railway station will be one of the gateways to Wokingham town and will provide a fantastic entrance.”

Mr Ashwell said it was important visitors were encouraged into the town to help business thrive.

He said: “We need to make sure that our visitors are encouraged by convenient walkways into the centre of our town.

“The plan for the surrounding roads looks very pragmatic and obviously open for consultation.

“By getting this infrastructure right it will support our town centre regeneration.

“It will provide a very exciting economic future by making Wokingham a great place to do business.”

John Piasecki, who owns Hudson Bay in Denmark Street, said he thought the design could work in principal but he would need to look at traffic models during the consultation to decide if it would be a success.

He said: “By changing it to a one-way system, on the face of it, I can imagine it could work but you need to study the issues properly.

“I think to really make a proper comment you need to look at the road flows for a bit more information.”

Mr Piasecki also raised some concerns about Alderman Willey Close which would become a one-way through road linking Station Road to the new link road.

He said: “You can imagine those living in Alderman Willey Close will not be pleased, but you need to look at what the traffic flows will be.

“It may be that all the traffic will go through or it could be that it’s not going to be that well used.”

The town centre trader also encouraged people to take part in the consultation.

He said: “As always with these things you will get a lot of people who will make comment about how it’s going to be a disaster.

“I would say before people comment they really should take the time to properly study the traffic impact and not just give a knee-jerk reaction.”

Concern has been raised online about plans to restrict drivers coming out of Oxford Road to only turn right towards Molly Millar’s Lane.

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