Facelift aims to spruce up town centre

7:30am Wednesday 11th April 2012 in Witney Photograph of the Author By Tom Jennings, covering Witney and West Oxfordshire. Call me on 01865 425403

Councillors David Robertson, left, and David Harvey at the Buttercross in Witney Councillors David Robertson, left, and David Harvey at the Buttercross in Witney

WITNEY’S town centre is set to get a grand £100,000 revamp to make its paving safer and its historic heart more attractive.

Traders have been campaigning for improvements to the centre for years and Oxfordshire County Council has now committed up to £145,000 for the area to cover the revamp and potentially other work in the town and Eynsham.

Market Square and Corn Street will be resurfaced and broken or missing bollards and railings on Church Green will be replaced.

Funds will also be used to install new safety measures around a zebra crossing in Oxford Hill where two children were injured last year.

David Harvey, councillor for Witney West, said: “It is really the regeneration of the historic trading quarter of Witney.

“We could do with some improved signage on Corn Street and some of the litter bins need replacing.

“It is to the benefit not just of people who live and work in Witney but also those people from all over Oxfordshire and elsewhere who come here.”

Market Square will be resurfaced with new paving, at a cost of about £30,000, and Mr Harvey said work could start “quite soon”.

Work in Church Green – which will also see improved wheelchair access to the green – will cost about £12,000 and is expected to start by the summer.

Corn Street will be resurfaced between Swan Court and Market Square at a cost of just under £70,000 and work is likely to begin in early autumn.

Witney Chamber of Commerce chairman Lesley Semaine said: “We have been asking them to address these problems for a really long time, but the funds were never there.

“A lot of the paving is very old in Market Square and it is lifting up in places, which is dangerous.”

Martin Eldridge, who has owned a sweet stall on the market for 25 years, said: “Nothing has been done to the Market Square in about 25 years.

“There have been a few minor accidents – mostly older people falling over – and something does need to be done.”

Comments(12)

Phian says...
7:59am Wed 11 Apr 12

Sounds like a lot of work for the money.

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the wizard says...
8:20am Wed 11 Apr 12

It all sounds very good and just in time for summer visitors. Now we just need 3 or 4 motorhome bays in Woodville Way car park to attract in good people with disposable income for the cafes and shops etc.

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sadof cogges says...
12:55pm Wed 11 Apr 12

The spending of this money will make this more attractive to the increased number of drivers along Langdale, Corn Street and Market Square that the proposed Cogges Link Road as highlighted in the public Inquiry last year. As these are roads which will take the strain of the increased town centre traffic deposited into Witney by this road.

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myline says...
2:32pm Wed 11 Apr 12

It will be good to get the Market Square resurfaced and maybe the Council will do something about that black BMW 4x4 that is allowed to get away with parking there all the time.

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xjohnx says...
4:52pm Wed 11 Apr 12

How about the corn exchange fiasco?

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Kate Pollard says...
6:44pm Wed 11 Apr 12

Interesting to hear that there will be expenditure on the centre of Witney but I wonder if we shouldn’t have heard something about the proposed Cogges Link Road by now? Does anyone know when a verdict is due? Will the decision be affected by impending elections?
I thought that time was up for this project by April 6th of this year. Is this right?
There seems to be a fair amount of work being done around various sites along the proposed route. Are OCC allowed to do this before permission is granted?
All information gratefully received.

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1fleetstar says...
7:07pm Wed 11 Apr 12

so were will the market go wail this work is carried out ???

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Lady Penelopee says...
8:07am Thu 12 Apr 12

Kate Pollard wrote:
Interesting to hear that there will be expenditure on the centre of Witney but I wonder if we shouldn’t have heard something about the proposed Cogges Link Road by now? Does anyone know when a verdict is due? Will the decision be affected by impending elections? I thought that time was up for this project by April 6th of this year. Is this right? There seems to be a fair amount of work being done around various sites along the proposed route. Are OCC allowed to do this before permission is granted? All information gratefully received.
They can't possibly be going ahead with that?!?

It just moves traffic from one congested junction to another, for a ludicrous amount of money!

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Kate Pollard says...
8:24am Thu 12 Apr 12

I agree with Lady Penelopee and it's worrying that work seems to be starting - with no permission (as I understand it) and no notification........
there was a very expensive inquiry about the proposed CLR, the recommendations haven't been made public yet and the Secretary of State hasn't yet given a decision. I'm a bit confused about the point of having the inquiry.

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Viper007 says...
12:20pm Thu 12 Apr 12

Getting a little off subject aren't we?

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sadof cogges says...
1:50pm Thu 12 Apr 12

The interaction of traffic and pedestrians on particularly in Corn Street and around the Market Square are important as the foot paths and traffic calming measures are integrated part of the area. Any rise in the amount of traffic will impact on the pedestrians using the area. These comments really just think around the issues assocaited with this news item.

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livedhereforyears says...
5:54pm Thu 12 Apr 12

if David Harvey refrained from driving over the pavements near his shop the pavement wouldn't need doing !!!!!!!!!!

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