IT has been a busy week for Witney.

Since the opening of Marriotts Walk, in Welch Way, the town centre has been flooded with visitors.

With the likes of a five-screen cinema, restaurants and department stores, it is no surprise that the shopping complex has seen thousands of visitors already.

And no doubt, with the run-up to Christmas, the town centre will only get busier.

The only glitch to overshadow this momentous event are the concerns over parking.

It seems a slight oversight that the 590-space multi-storey has parking for just three hours. Those who want to do a little shopping, catch a film, and even go for a meal in the shopping centre will struggle doing this in three hours. Let alone explore the rest of the town centre, which was part of the aim of Marriotts Walk.

Woodford Way car park, opposite the development, has outline planning permission for 50 homes. This means that full planning permission will have to be sought for any proposals to come to fruition, but surely houses on a piece of land will be much more profitable than a free car park.

West Oxfordshire District Council has extended the temporary car park to remain open until June. But, with shoppers already struggling to park on a busy Saturday, you can understand people’s fears about the question marking hanging over the 250-space long-stay parking.

Managers of Marriotts Walk have proudly announced that the development has brought 300 extra jobs to the town centre, but this means that even more long-stay car parking is needed for the workers. And a three-hour multi-storey will just not fill this gap.

Hopefully, the district council’s promised monitoring of the parking situation will involve listening to what the people of Witney really want.