A COUNCIL boss has reassured residents plans to overhaul a neglected pocket of Abingdon have not been dumped in the "too difficult pile".

Matthew Barber said consultants have been enlisted to map out the future of The Charter, more than three months after its £50m makeover plan was scrapped.

The Vale of White Horse District Council leader said: "There's no intention of putting this in the 'too difficult' pile. Hopefully very soon we will be in a much better position.

"We are waiting for feedback from the consultants and looking at what might be feasible."

Consultants at Cushman and Wakefield are now assessing The Charter, comprising of a dingy cluster of buildings at the back of Bury Street including the multi-storey car park, before the council can draw up new plans.

Several years ago the Vale struck a three-phase deal with Aberdeen Asset Management to tackle the transformation, and the firm completed phase one – a revamp of the Bury Street shopping precinct.

But the company announced in March this year it wanted to terminate the agreement after falling flat at phase two.

Grand plans for a 700-space car park and a new supermarket crumbled after the firm failed to entice a food chain into the abandoned former Co-operative store in Bury Street.

Mr Barber said: "The agreement with Aberdeen is still there until we move forward and formally terminate that.

"The way the deal was struck with them hasn't been the most helpful. I was in opposition to the two-part phases. Part one was easy but the second was very ambitious - there was nothing to stop them doing part one and then falling away at part two, which was what transpired.

"We are getting to the stage where we want to move things along as quickly as possible. It is clearly important for the centre of Abingdon.

"None of this will be easy, there are other uses in The Charter with the library and health centre. There are lots of partners we need to work with."

The blow of Aberdeen's decision was softened slightly after the council put aside £800,000 to improve the multi-storey car park, but Mr Barber said not much would be done until they seal the fate of the surrounding area.

He added: "We are waiting to see what we are doing to the rest of The Charter, there is no point redeveloping properly only for it to change. There are some things that urgently need doing so we need to properly assess what those will cost and what is in need of investment."

He said issues with lighting and the drainage must be addressed before anything more drastic was planned.