It is reported on the Get Bracknell website that Parking is down by 6% in line with the recession.
This could be put down to a recession as the chief executive at the council stated in the article. However looking at the Berkshire Observatory web site I noticed that it was only Bracknell that replied. I think figures for the local area would of really gave some more enlighten statistics on national trends or rather local trends. See Berkshire Observatory.
I wonder if Bracknell was compared to the rest of Berkshire if it's decrease would be greater. I imagine having towns close by like Camberley and Basingstoke which have improved town centres while Bracknell continues to look grey with a lack of well know names could be keeping shoppers away from town?
What do you think?
I'm not sure of the exact time frames of the survey but I suspect a decent amount of it is down to:
ReplyDeletea) The continued degregation of the town centre.
b) Tesco Direct setting up in the Peel Centre.
If you want to nip into Bracknell to Argos to get something it costs parking + having to lug the item across town. Now you can just pop into Tesco Direct in the Peel Centre instead. It's a no brainer.
If TK Maxx do setup a store in the Peel Centre - as is rumoured - I suspect the town centre will suffer even more.