MORE than £1.1m is to be spent on improving public spaces surrounding the redeveloped Westgate shopping centre.

Oxford City Council has proposed the works to help match up pedestrian areas with the planned redevelopment of the site.

Last year the Westgate Alliance, a joint venture between landowners Land Securities and The Crown Estate, submitted a planning application to the city council for the redevelopment of the centre.

Once completed, the centre will have a new underground car park with 1,100 places, a large department shop and cinema and 72,000 square metres of new retail space.

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The £1.1m spent on public spaces will be funded through a community infrastructure levy, a sum of money paid to the council by developer Westgate Alliance to improve the local area.

This is because not all the works required falls within the “zone” to be redeveloped.

In a report to city executive board members, head of city development Michael Crofton Briggs said: “If the city council were not to fund these works some important areas around the Westgate development would remain in their current state.

“[That] would damage the overall quality and success of the development and its integration and relationship with the rest of the city centre.”

Sites set to be improved include Bonn Square, the western pavement of Castle Street and Norfolk Street and Pennyfarthing Place, including its link to St Ebbe’s Street.

Mr Crofton Briggs said that without the works there could be an “unattractive gap” between Bonn Square and the entrance area of the Westgate Centre. And, he said, because the subway between New Road and Queen Street was being filled in during the Westgate works, the side by County Hall should be filled or a “hole adjacent to the prominent approach to the city centre” would be created.

The approach to Westgate from Pennyfarthing Place, by St Ebbe’s Church, also had much scope for improvement, he added.

He said: “This small area is currently rather ‘down-at-heel’ but could be made attractive and inviting. It too has the potential to be an important pedestrian route.”

The council has signed a legal agreement with developer Westgate Alliance, which will carry out the works.

The authority said that the total cost of public space improvements in and outside the Westgate area was £8.5m.

It will pay £1,134,000 towards those costs, from the £4.3m it is to receive from the Westgate Alliance between 2014 and 2018 through the community infrastructure levy.

Oxfordshire County Council would oversee the works, the Mr Crofton Biggs said.

City council leader Bob Price said: “It is a very significant improvement to the environment for pedestrians, shoppers and tourists. People will want to know where to go so there will be new signage for the castle, the Westgate and other parts of the city.

“It is an important part of the improvement of the area and the city.”


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