BRACKNELL rail station will be the target of a coronavirus messaging campaign after concerns were raised about a lack of social distancing at the site.

This is one of a number of key communications projects the council is focusing on which primarily targets young people.

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Alayna Razzell, Bracknell Forest Council’s communications chief, told members of the local outbreak engagement board: “With young people, we’ve adopted a slightly harder ‘why aren’t you social distancing?’ campaign and that seems to have gone done quite well, we’ve had some really good feedback from Bracknell and Wokingham College.

“With young people, we’re also looking at different poster sites with much more different messages than normal which actually speak to them in a language they use.

“It’s using language that actually resonates with them.

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“We’re looking to extend that campaign and the one about ‘why aren’t you social distancing’ to the train station because I know there have been concerns that is an area where people aren’t keeping their distance, specifically younger people.”

Listening in, councillor Gareth Barnard asked if messaging was being considered to encourage the wearing of face coverings in cramped spaces such as the train station.

He added: “If you take Bracknell railway station, before and after school, you have people from five or six schools using the station as a meeting point.

“If we’re looking at managing the risk going forward, we should look at in those spaces where we can’t maintain social distancing, we can at least encourage people to wear face masks.”

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Communications boss Alayna Razzell confirmed this campaign was on the council’s “radar”, and also told the board the council was purchasing face masks to hand out to residents.

Other campaigns set up by the authority to get coronavirus-related messages out to residents have included:

  • Using an influencer on Instagram to target Black and Minority Ethnic audiences
  • Creating organic posts and purchasing advertising to target young people on social media
  • Putting out adverts on Heart and other digital radio channels

These campaigns were discussed at a meeting of the board on Thursday, September 24.