Bright ideas for Marriotts

8:15am Friday 16th May 2008

Comments (0)   Have your say »

CHILDREN'S art is going to brighten up Witney's prime development site at Marriotts Close.

Blown-up images of their paintings are to be spaced out along the two metre high hoardings surrounding the building site in the centre of town.

A group of 20 children came along to show off their artwork to the partners in the £50m project, West Oxfordshire District Council and Simons Developments.

They were the winning entries in a competition for local primary schools, and came from Witney's Batt, Blake, Tower Hill, and Witney Community schools, as well as Aston and Cote and The Manor, at Hanborough.

Jill Dunsmore, council cabinet member for communities, said: "There was a fantastic response, and we had 122 entries from pupils aged six to 11. Selecting the best ones was very difficult."

The images are to be enlarged to 1.5 by 2 metres and surfaced with plastic acrylic, mounted on special boards in Welch Way and Woodford Way as 'community involvement spaces'.

They show a range of themes, including the West Oxfordshire countryside, the famous Witney Buttercross, and diggers and trucks on a building site.

Martin McGread, Simons project manager, said: "We look forward to putting these on display for the people of Witney."

A similar project is to be run for secondary schools in the area, with a deadline of October 22. Simons will present cash prizes to the best entries in both primary and secondary school categories.

Marriotts Close is scheduled to be completed by autumn 2009, with a mix of shops, restaurants, multi-screen cinema and multi-storey car park, plus a recreational area and new housing.

Among the stores already signed up are Marks and Spencer and Debenhams.