A petition to save Wokingham town centre’s Denmark Street car park has received more than 2,400 signatures.
Conservative town councillor Daniel Hinton, who organised the petition, told the News: “The idea of the petition is we present it to Wokingham Borough Council and the landlord, and say ‘we want you to come together to make a deal so we can keep our car park open’”.
Cllr Hinton suggested discussions between the parties could see the car park re-opening or could lead to WBC leasing the site to ensure visitors to the town centre can use it.
👉🏼 How do you hold a whole town to ransom when your planning apllication gets rejected?
— Bernadette Mitra (@MitraBernadette) September 1, 2019
👉🏼 Create a barricade with concrete blocks to make the car park inaccessible & frustrate car park users - such as this ⬇️#nosocialresponsibility #savedenmarkstreetcarpark pic.twitter.com/0ZspzdZFb7
He added: “This shows that there is a strategy behind this petition.
“This car park is very important to the disabled and the elderly as it is the flattest part of the town centre.”
Residents are now blocked from entering the car park as concrete blocks have been placed by entrances.
READ MORE: Residents react to eye-catching Pride tribute
Of the 2,400 signatures, 1,400 have come from the online version of the petition, with Cllr Hinton and other campaigners collecting more in person around the town centre.
2200 that’s how many signatures we have to save Denmark Street Car Park thanks to all the local businesses and my colleagues for collecting today! 3000 is now more possible than ever! #wokingham pic.twitter.com/2sqHXGxd0D
— Daniel Hinton (@DanielH92916109) August 31, 2019
A number of town centre businesses have also backed the petition in a bid to get more signatures before it is presented at WBC’s full council meeting on Thursday, September 19.
The closure has seen Wokingham Foodbank struggling, with Cllr Hinton telling the News fewer people have been able to volunteer for the service since the site stopped operating.
You can view the petition here
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here