Tuesday 28 January 2014

Archived, "is it really Regenerate Or Die" For Wokingham?

This was written last month but got forgotten between Xmas and moving house. 


"The town is regularly voted one of the best places to live in the country. But according to the Tories "Without this regeneration our town centre will slowly die".

Many think councillor Alistair Corrie, of Wokingham Borough Council overstated his case more than a little bit. 

He said "I don't like the idea of ripping up trees or building on green space ... but I've come up with the view that we need to regenerate".

"I do accept that most people will find this very unpopular". At last he says something sensible. 

In these times of austerity they are spending £95 million reducing green space and putting more strain on existing resources. 

The council says following the development the park will include a bigger and better play area, and a larger events field, and will have "more trees". Though much less space. 

The application includes a new food store, hotel, new retail units, 157 homes and a "new and improved" town park at Elms Field as well as a redeveloped Peach Place plaza.

Campaigners against this proposal collected more than 2,000 signatures to trigger a three-hour debate against the development which will nearly halve open space at the park.

A campaign on Facebook against the plans has attracted 1,500 members."

Adrian Windisch 
Green Party Candidate For Wokingham 

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