Traders have rejected plans to create a Business Improvement District in Oxford city centre.
The move, by city centre management company OX1, would have meant businesses having to cough up an extra one per cent on top of their business rates in exchange for services such as deep cleaning of the streets and a patrol of street wardens.
Out of 356 votes cast, 56 per cent rejected the proposal. Forty-one per cent of those eligible to vote did so.
Oliver O'Dell, chief executive of OX1, said: "I am very disappointed - it is a missed opportunity."
To win the vote, OX1 needed a double' majority - a majority must vote in favour and those in favour must account for more than 50 per cent of the rateable value of business in the area.
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