PEDESTRIAN barriers across Rose Street were temporarily removed over this weekend, after it was revealed footfall was far lower than expected for the area.

The barriers were put in place at the start of July, as shops across the nation were preparing to reopen, in order to ease resident's concerns of shoppers busying up the street, causing safety concerns for residents who live on the road.

According to the Wokingham Borough Council (WBC) however, the footfall of the area was not as high as expected.

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Following this, the barriers were removed on Sunday, August 9.

On-street blue badge and the short stay parking bays were reinstated with enforcement of the 30-minute maximum stay, from 8am this morning, August 10.

Those using blue badge bays must display their badge clearly, or risk being fined.

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Cllr Pauline Jorgensen, executive member for highways and transport, said: "Making sure our town centres are Covid-19 secure is incredibly important to the council.

"We want to create a safe place for shoppers, with lots of space to maintain social distancing and to reduce the likelihood of a localised lockdown.

"However it’s also important that we continue to monitor how the pedestrian spaces are working and make changes where things are no longer necessary.

"We originally installed the Rose Street barriers following concerns from residents whose front doors open directly onto the footway.

"The lack of space was making it difficult for them to access their properties while safely socially distancing from passers-by.

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"The hope was that by creating more space on the south side, we could encourage people to move across and spread footfall more evenly.

"Ongoing monitoring of Rose Street has shown this isn’t happening and pedestrian numbers are lower than originally anticipated.

"As such, we’ve taken the decision to remove the barriers along Rose Street and reinstate the on-street parking bays and blue badge spaces which are so important to visitors popping into Wokingham.

"We’ll continue to monitor the road to see if further intervention is required."