A shopping area in the centre of Witney has been acquired by West Oxfordshire District Council.
The purchase of Marriotts Walk, a 21-retail unit scheme over 4.9 acres in the centre of the town, is part of the council’s strategy to boost town centres across the district.
Cllr Duncan Enright (pictured far right), deputy leader and cabinet member for economic development, said, “We are working hard across the district to support our town centres and help boost our local economy.
“In Witney we already have a brilliant town centre offer but by purchasing Marriotts Walk we can do more to boost the area. It provides us with an amazing opportunity to help support Witney town centre during what continues to be a very challenging period for local businesses.
“This is an investment for the future of the district and will allow us to take forward what is already a successful site.
“We have ambition for the site and we will be working hard to look at filling the empty units and also looking at how we can use the great outdoor space to do more to help encourage people to shop in Witney.
“Given we are not purely driven by rental income as many private owners would be, we can be more flexible and look at how the space can better benefit the community.
“This purchase forms part of our wider plans to support market towns across the district along with our long-term ambition for the new Salt Cross development to attract major new businesses to the area.”
The 2007-built site which has a 590 space car park. It has previously been let on a long lease to Kandahar Real Estate and, more recently, to a subsidiary of Deutsche Bank.
Image: Councillors in Marriot’s Walk. Front of image is Cllr Andy Graham.
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