Page 1078 - Reading Mercury

Mr. Smith’s principal interest is the environment. He has served on the various
Head Office committees of the National Trust for 25 years and is an honorary FRIBA,
and founded and runs with his wife, the Manifold and Landmark Trusts which carry
out or support a wide range of environmental projects all over the country.
Mrs. Smith is Scottish, the daughter of Colonel Elliott Carnegy of Lour, Angus, and
they have two sons and three daughters.

COUNCIL TO TAKE OVER WOKINGHAM CAR PARKS
Pay and Display car parks in Wokingham—at Rose Street, Denmark Street, Cockpit
Path and Easthampstead Road—are to be taken over by the Wokingham District
Council when the Royal British Legion three-year lease -expires in June.
A spokesman for the British Legion Attendants’ Company said on Monday, “We
are losing £100 every week on these car parks and, while we would be happy to
operate on a break-even basis to keep our attendant in work, we have to face the fact
that we are running a business, with 1,000 ex-servicemen to consider. We can’t go on
incurring losses like this.
The problem in Wokingham has been that, while Wokingham District Council has
been happy to offer the Attendants’ Company this leasing arrangement—for which we
pay rates of £1,200—they have done nothing to ensure that motorists use the car
parks. In fact, according to my information, Wokingham drivers leave their cars
everywhere except in the car parks. We have informed the district council that we are
not interested in renewing our lease, although we would be willing to continue on a
management basis. We have this arrangement with a number of other councils and it
works extremely well.
According to the Secretary of Wokingham District Council he is not worried about
this. The Community Services Committee has been studying the estimates for these
car parks and recommendations for increased charges were made at a District Council
Finance and General Purposes meeting last Thursday.
The proposed rates will be 10p for two hours and 20p for all-day parking. The
excess charge for over parking will go up from 50p to £2. Rose Street would become
a short stay car park—four hours maximum waiting permitted.
At last week’s meeting members of the district council heard that car park
companies had been invited to submit offers for running the car parks but the only
formal offer received suggested a rental of £7,000 plus 70% of the income in excess
of £17,000.
Automatic barriers will not be installed where the pay and display system operates.
In fact at the Elms Road car park it is intended to take down the automatic barrier and
replace it with another pay and display machine, which indicates that a car park
attendant will be more essential than ever, according to the Secretary of WDC.

th
Thur 4 March
WOKINGHAM WINS ‘TOP STATION AWARD’.
Wokingham Railway Station has been judged one of the best-kept stations in the
Southern Region’s South Western Division. The station was awarded a prize for being
the best-kept in the Feltham area. Runner-up was Ascot Station. The £50 prize for the
best-kept station for the whole division went to Liss, near Petersfield.

th
Thur 18 March
WOKINGHAM FIRM CELEBRATES 100 YEARS OF TRADING

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