A CAR dealer was stunned to find his Witney garage could be flattened to make way for a major new DIY store.

And a neighbouring unit did not know of the plan until it was informed by the Oxford Mail.

A planning application has been submitted to knock down Mick Partlett Car Sales and neighbouring gun store Adenbourne Fieldsports in Station Lane.

Mr Partlett said: “It’s come out of the blue and it’s a bit of a shock.

“I’ve got about 80 cars on site and it’s going to create a problem finding somewhere else to go.

“This is one of the best sites in Oxfordshire, and to find somewhere else – I don’t know how we’re going to do it.”

He set up the firm 15 years ago at East End, North Leigh, and moved to Station Lane three years later. He employs nine people at the site and KJ’s, a workshop at Two Rivers Industrial Estate.

Mr Partlett said he would try and relocate to the industrial estate, where he recently bought McLeans bus garage.

Adenbourne did not know of the plan until it was informed by the Mail on Friday. The firm declined to comment.

Nick Hardcastle, a director of Leda Properties Ltd, which owns the Station Lane site, said: “We hadn’t anticipated the application being registered by the council within a day of receiving it, it normally takes a couple of weeks.”

He said Leda would help the two businesses find alternative sites if required.

It wants to demolish three units – one of which is empty – and build a 600sqm store suitable for a DIY firm.

Mr Hardcastle said: “The existing buildings are coming to the end of their useful economic life and over the past few years we have received a number of tentative inquiries from occupiers who could be interested in the site.

Mr Hardcastle said the earliest work could start on the site would be late this year.

Mr Partlett’s lease runs until May 2012.

He added: “Until there’s a positive outcome [with the planning application] we won’t start planning. We cross bridges when we come to them.”

Chamber of Trade chairman Lesley Semaine said a development such as a DIY store could be a boost for the town.

West Oxfordshire District Council will make a final decision on the plan next month.