A COLLEGE is bidding to take over Witney’s closed magistrates’ court — and wants to eventually knock it down for a new “gateway” to the site.

Abingdon and Witney College said the development would give it a presence in Welch Way as visitors and students often “struggle” to find the nearby Holloway Road campus.

The college has applied to West Oxfordshire District Council to use the court — closed under Government cutbacks on Friday — for four classrooms, a seminar room, offices, and interview rooms.

Two classrooms would be in the former courtroom, opposite the Marriotts Walk shopping centre.

These would be for students currently using temporary classrooms while the campus undergoes a £7.5m revamp.

A rebuild would follow later, though no designs have been published.

It is the latest boost for the town centre street after the Witney Gazette last week reported that the Windrush Health Centre is bidding to expand with a £5.5m rebuild.

Penny Fox, film and media lecturer and University and College Union representative, said: “The plans sound fabulous, and I’m sure it will all be wonderful.

“I’m sure teaching staff will welcome a development that opens the college up to a main thoroughfare.”

Mayor of Witney, James Mills, said: “Any investment in the education of youngsters has to be a good things for the town.

“And it’s very good news that a building that could potentially be empty for a long time is going to be put to use almost immediately.

“I believe this shows what a confident and growing town we are.”

Chamber of Commerce chairman, Lesley Semaine, said: “It’s going to enhance the centre of the town. You have got the lovely Marriotts, which is so tastefully done, and on the other side, you’ve got old 60s-buildings, that look like concrete blocks.”

The college declined to comment when contacted by the Witney Gazette.

Its application states the plan is for “demolition and redevelopment of the site in the long term” with a “front facing, contemporary and state-of-the-art facility”.

This will form the “gateway into the Witney campus”, it said. The new college entrance would reduce parking in Holloway Road, because students would have better access from town centre parks, the college said.

The college owns the former ambulance station in Welch Way, which it knocked down for the £7.5m scheme.

This will create TV and radio studios, two beauty and hairdressing salons, science labs, art and design studios, and library and IT facilities in a new building.

Two further buildings will be refurbished.

A £28m scheme for a major new building was axed when Government funding fell through.

The court was closed as part of a national closure programme, which saw 93 axed to save £41.5m. The Witney closure will save more than £60,000 a year, and £45,000 of needed repair work, ministers said.

Justice Minister, Jonathan Djanogly, said the Government had to “concentrate our limited resources on the best ones”.

He said: “We are investing in the court estate with new buildings and with refurbishment of facilities.”

The health centre rebuild would more than treble the size of the existing facility, the Witney Gazette reported last week.