Marriotts: Full steam ahead! (From Witney Gazette)

Marriotts: Full steam ahead!

3:30pm Tuesday 8th January 2008 in Witney By David Horne

BUILDING work on Witney's long-awaited Marriotts Close redevelopment starts next Monday with closure of the town's Welch Way car park and the putting up of two-and-a-half metre high boarding around the site.

Motorists are being advised of the new parking arrangements in the town until the expected completion of the new development in September next year.

And this week, to herald the beginning of work, joint partners West Oxfordshire District Council and Simons Developments announced the latest stores signed up for the £50m centre.

Fashion retailers Monsoon and Accessorize, as well as Dorothy Perkins and Wallis, have signed up to be part of the £50m complex, joining the list of other high street chains, including M&S and Debenhams, which will be taking the two largest stores in the complex.

Barry Norton, council leader, said: "The aim is to provide a wider range of services and facilities locally, because of the haemorrhage of shoppers going out of West Oxfordshire to other regional centres. But also to keep the essential market town feel of Witney."

There are still eight shop units left, 3,000 square feet and under. Luke Pickering, Simons' managing director, said they have had to turn other high street retailers down because the spaces were not big enough for them.

Two of those going into Marriotts Close, New Look and Dorothy Perkins, are relocating from shops they already have in the town. It is understood that one has already been relet, and the other will soon be on the market.

Mr Pickering said: "We are confident that by the time we open, all the units will be let and there will be a full range of stores. So far, we have well-known stores, but we hope to get one or two slightly different names on board."

He added that by April the first visible stage of development would start as scaffolding and steel frames were put in place. As well as the shops, a multi-storey car park and 138 flats and apartments are being built on the former football ground and car park site.

Lorries bringing in construction material will be arriving and leaving town via Ducklington Lane and Welch Way, not through High Street.

The first real impact that the development is going ahead will be on motorists looking to park their cars in the town.

Council staff will be out in the town centre next Monday to advise them about the new parking arrangements, the main effect of which is to increase short-term parking at the Woolgate Centre and shift long-stay to fringe town centre areas.

There are £70 fines, reduced to £35 if paid quickly, for motorists staying longer than permitted hours.

Mr Norton said, however, that there would be a run-in time for motorists to get used to the new arrangements: "As a council, we tend not to be heavy-handed. We don't have people jumping out from behind hedges to slap notices on cars," he added.

"During pre-Christmas, we found that an hour was not long enough for some shoppers to do their shopping and get back to their cars, so we were flexible about it.

"During this transition period, we will deal with offences on a case-by-case basis."