Witney High Street and Market Square enhancements

Where we are now

We have developed a preliminary draft plan (within the budget and funding requirements), using the feedback you gave us in the informal community engagement. 

You can see the draft plan and share your thoughts on it between 12,00pm on 11 September 2024 and 11.59pm on 9 October 2024. The details and survey will be accessible here: https://letstalk.oxfordshire.gov.uk/witney-high-street-2 after 12,00pm on 11 September 2024.

Survey results

The results from our informal Witney High Street and Market Square Enhancement project community engagement are available to see in our documents on the right. 

The results show that a majority of respondents support the scheme objectives and the most requested improvements for the High Street designs are better footway surfacing, more trees, more plants/gardens and more seating. 

We are now in the process of engaging a consultant to work with us to develop a draft (preliminary) design that is both based on people’s feedback and is within the budget and requirements of the funding.

What happens next

A formal consultation on the draft design will take place during autumn 2024. That feedback will then be reviewed and used to make any necessary amendments to the draft design before construction begins in early 2025.

Timescales

Thank you again to everyone who has written to us, joined us for the drop-in events, councillor or business focus workshops, completed the survey, and/or contributed to the map. If you haven't been able to fill in the survey or make a mark on the map, you can still view the project details on this page, and you can contact us by email: witneyhighstreet@oxfordshire.gov.uk, or by writing to: Witney High Street Project, Oxfordshire County Council, County Hall, New Road, Oxford OX1 1ND.

About the project

The Witney High Street and Market Square enhancements project supports walking, wheeling and cycling objectives, and aims to deliver street improvements that support and maintain the new traffic arrangement in Witney High Street and Market Square.

Our vision is for Witney High Street and Market Square to be a healthy, attractive and historically rich environment that complements the character and vibrancy of the market town whilst managing the impacts of climate change through improved opportunities for walking, cycling and the use of public transport.

To deliver the vision, we are proposing five key objectives that could be achieved by the project:

• Enhance public spaces while protecting the town’s history and character
• Support local businesses and the markets
• Make it easier and more enjoyable to walk, wheel and cycle
• Upgrade access to public transport
• Improve safety for all users

Why is this project important?

Last year Oxfordshire County Council decided the traffic restriction on Witney High Street and Market Square should remain. The Witney High Street and Market Square enhancements scheme to aims to deliver street improvements that support and maintain the new traffic arrangement.

Now that there are many fewer vehicles travelling through the High Street and Market Square we can look again at how space could be reallocated to make the town centre a better place where people spend more time relaxing, shopping and socialising. The improvements would aim to complement the town’s history and character but would also help to improve the look and feel of Witney for visitors and for those arriving by walking, cycling or public transport.

Road maintenance

Milestone is carrying out some minor road works on Witney High Street at the Welch Way junction and Market Square at the Corn Street junction. installing temporary buildouts to make crossing the road near these junctions safer. These works are separate from the Witney High Street and Market Square enhancement project.

Providing feedback

The scheme is at an early stage and a design yet to be developed. We are seeking the views of Witney residents, businesses and visitors to help shape the designs by finding out what is important to the local community. This information will be used to develop a draft (preliminary) design. We will then consult on the draft (preliminary) design through a further, formal consultation early next year.

Please read the supporting information on the right hand side of this page. 

The informal online survey and interactive map were open from 12:00pm on Tuesday 5 September until 11:59pm on Tuesday 3 October 2023.

There were two drop-in events on 9 September and 19 September where people were able to see the information in person and speak to the project team. The information on this page is the same as at the events, Please see the Drop-in events section on the right hand side of this page for more details.

The Frequently asked questions (FAQs) section provides answers to common queries about the scheme.