New location for ShopMobility as Broadway Car Park remains 'closed for foreseeable future'

Plans to relocate the town’s ShopMobility service were discussed at a Maidenhead Town Forum meeting last week.

Ian Brazier-Dubber, managing director of RBWM Property Company updated the forum on the developments taking place across the town at the meeting on Thursday, June 1.

It included an update on the future of the Broadway (Nicholsons) Car Park, which was closed for health and safety reasons on New Year’s Eve, and the ShopMobility service which previously operated in the ground floor of the car park.

The meeting heard Broadway Car Park will remain closed and ‘will do for the foreseeable future’ as inspections are carried out to calculate the costs and an ‘appropriate outcome’.

The RBWM Property Company has been in discussions with new leader of the council, Cllr Simon Werner, to bring forward a cabinet paper at the end of July that outlines the strategy and costs.

A key recommendation is that Broadway is ‘at the end of its economic life’ and the cost in repairs outweighs the cost of demolition and replacement with a surface or temporary small level car park on the site.

The previous council leader, Andrew Johnson, said in March that it would be a ‘colossal waste of money’ to fix the car park, and was seeking demolition at the ‘earliest opportunity’.

An update on the relocation of ShopMobility was also given at the town forum.

The service, which offer shoppers access to mobility scooters and other mobility aids, moved into a temporary Nicholsons Centre unit in January following the car park’s closure.

But a disability and inclusion forum meeting in March heard the move had led to a ‘huge knock’ to membership renewals for the service.

Last week’s town forum heard the favoured location for a new home for ShopMobility is West Street.

The reasons for this choice were that the location is the ‘flattest, safest and protected zone’ to access the High Street for people with a ‘range of disabilities and movements’.

Other locations were considered, including Hines Meadow car park, but the multi-storey car park proved to be ‘difficult’ for people with needs, particularly with lifts and ramps.

A small study is being undertaken to assess the changes required on the highway and pavement from West Street, as well as a technical assessment of the drainage and electricity, to support the charging of mobility scooters.

Physical changes such as the relocation of existing car parking spaces also have to be assessed.

Mr Brazier-Dubber said: “We will have to spend money on widening, flattening and reprofiling some of the pavement and kerb lines on the road.”

Full approval for the project is estimated to be in August or September, with a plan to implement the project between 12 and 16 weeks later, and ShopMobility could be functioning by the end of November.