Improving Witney Town Centre
by Alison Wright
The debate about whether Witney High Street should remain closed to traffic is escalating as Oxfordshire County Council is starting it’s own consultation following the West Oxfordshire District Council survey in June 21.
Comments from I Love Witney Facebook Group
‘I much prefer walking along the pavements without endless cars spewing fumes at me’
Restrictions on traffic were introduced during the height of the pandemic. With temporary flower planters at each end of the High Street blocking traffic it certainly caused much consternation from locals on Social Media. However following the local survey, many months after the restrictions were put in place, over 60% of people voted in favour of keeping the high street closed, citing cleaner air, a safer environment and altogether a better shopping experience.
‘Less cars, more shoppers walking in a safe, open and cleaner environment. Plenty of free parking available within a few minutes walk. Absolutely no need for cars to be using this stretch of High Street’
Now with a more in-depth survey from the County Council on the cards the High Street is on the agenda again. Featuring on BBC South Today one of the leading advocates for removing the restrictions on traffic flow is Henry Mo who runs a sandwich shop at the top end of Witney High Street and has been very vocal on social media.
‘I suspect Amazon causes more damage to our high street shops!’
Along with most of the high street no shop is more than a few minutes walk from the free parking Witney offers and to me that’s what makes the argument of high street traffic almost banal – Witney is pretty unique in offering 3 hours free parking in all of it’s car parks. So to hear the butcher, whose corner shop is both on the Woolgate pedestrian precinct (just two minutes walk from the car park) and the high street speak out against the restrictions is nonsensical. So what’s the benefit of being able to drive up the hight street? With the exception of Blue badge holders, who really needs it?
‘I walked through town yesterday about 11am. It was buzzing, people adapt. I love living here and with ample free parking am happy with the high st closure. Traffic, my god try living in a city. Keep it closed 7-7, no issue for me’
Local high streets and towns up and down the country have faced significant challenges for many years. Our shopping behaviour has altered, irrespective of restricted traffic, we are a changed society. Gone are the days when the high street was a social environment where we might do a bit of local shopping whilst also meeting our friends. Dare I say it, many of us, certainly not all, have become lazy. When the big supermarket chains started pushing their way onto our streets we knew it would be the death knell to many of our local shops – the butchers, the fishmongers, the bakers. We all lamented the days when the small independents made the high street a thriving community and we all vowed to keep these wonderful little shops going with our custom, no matter what.
‘Personally, I believe a closed High Street is a benefit to town centre users and traders, with the potential of a selling point for our town, attracting people to frequent more, benefiting everyone.’
And what did we do ? We found that using just one shop for everything was more convenient and no doubt a little cheaper. Then these big brutish warehouses started to offer delivery and we didn’t even have to get up off our arses to shop – we could remain on our sofa’s, buy things we didn’t need and get someone to select and pack our heavy items for us. We didn’t have to walk past those small suffering independents with our heads hung low in shame because now Tesco’s, Sainsburys and all of the others, with the possible exception of M&S who joined the party late, would all deliver straight to our doors. We became shamefully insular !
‘I sympathise with businesses not doing as well but believe the reasons for this are more connected to people making fewer trips into town for work and shopping’
Add in our dependence on Amazon, Very and Argos to name but a few and we have created the perfect storm for the decline of the high street. It’s not the lack of traffic Henry, it’s us. We’ve changed and guess what, the pandemic has helped us change even more. Technology has enabled many of us to work from home, this in itself will have a massive long term impact on the need for office buildings and in consequence local shopping and lunchtime eateries. But above all else the pandemic has given us a medical excuse to be more lazy and less community spirited.
‘…hope it stays pedestrianised’
‘I have just got back from town, and there was certainly no lack of people in the High Street or Market Square’
High streets need to focus on improving the visitor experience as an attractive place to shop, see friends, relax and interact with the town. Does Witney do that? To a certain extent, yes, but not massively so. Has Witney embraced change? Not really and after being described as “England’s most favoured retirement village” by social influencer Grace Beverley maybe we should take notice and do something.
‘I say keep it shut. It’s not the closure of the road killing business, it’s online shopping, unachievable rates and people being more careful about how they shop because of COVID that’s killing trade, nothing to do with the road, towns great and much safer’
As a town on the edge of the Cotswolds we should be dynamic and thriving not sleepily treading water, hoping that things will get better by magic, as we slowly watch shop after shop close. But we need strategies. Strategies for retailers, the leisure and hospitality industry and offices to reinvent themselves? Those strategies will come from joined up civic thinking and planning, not from knee jerk responses to traffic calming.
‘…please remember by closing the high street we are taking the damaging exhaust gasses that cars produce away from our children and old people which is a massive health benefit. We need to stop prioritising cars over peoples health and well-being’
‘It’s a tiny stretch of road pedestrianised, it does not cause any problems. Pedestrianisation is the future’
Somebody on social media group I Love Witney wrote the other day, something along the lines that the car parks in Witney are self defeating, keeping people away from the specialist shops in Witney. Specialist shops? Really? Witney has a smattering of independents but it’s certainly not Burford with its very diverse albeit touristy shops.
Thankfully on social media the response seems to be overwhelmingly in support of keeping the restrictions in place but it worries me that there is even the notion that a handful of cars parking (sometimes illegally) on the high street is going to be the make or break of the town.
‘The volume of traffic using it alone was getting dangerous. The amount of near misses on the speed bumps that people thought they had right of way to just walk out in front of cars. I had this opinion before the pandemic and its not changed’
Interestingly a study in Leicester found shop vacancy rates were five times higher on streets with high levels of traffic, and that retail turnover in pedestrianised areas generally out-performs non-pedestrian areas. (Wiggins, 1993)
‘I’m fat and lazy but still happy to walk the small distance from the car parks. I’ve parked in the free car park while my teenagers go to shake shop with the road being safer with less traffic on it.’
According to Henry Mo, 36 out of 37 business owners are in favour of returning Witney High Street back to a traffic rat run, (obviously not their exact words, but you get the point). So what could we do to improve the visitor experience? Well to me that certainly wouldn’t be allowing large numbers of motor vehicles to cruise up and down, with their popcorn exhausts, putting people off wanting to spend time and relax in the high street. It would be precisely the opposite.
I don’t know what data or statistics the 36 of 37 shops are using to justify their argument, but data from Living Streets suggests where the pedestrian experience has been improved footfall has increased between 20 and 35%.
‘I voted for it and continue to support full pedestrianisation. How better to serve the businesses than ensure greater FOOTfall, additional meeting places, greater access through safe spaces and external seating. The only constant is change, time to run forward not trip and fall backwards’
Revitalising the high streets in England is going to be an uphill battle following the pandemic. It’s going to take ages. We may well be out of lockdown but we’re not out of the woods yet and despite a certain delight in rediscovering our liberty, shoppers are still wary.
There is now a reticence among shoppers to head back to physical shops. Do we wear a mask or not? Do we still have to be two metres apart? Unsurprisingly companies that have changed or adapted their business model to offer online ordering or take away options have prospered throughout the pandemic.
‘I challenge Witney to stop using Amazon! I bet there are very few takers. Most people want things immediately, not tomorrow. There’s not the patience any more. We’ve become our worst enemies some of us..’
Dominoes pizzas has always been largely about delivery and reported underlying pretax profit of £101.2m for the year to 27 December, up from £98.8m the previous year. So sales in troubled times is possible – it just needs a rethink. But not a short term rethink.
High streets can’t compete on price with the supermarkets, so they must market themselves as places that are unique, attractive to visit and socialise in. But that takes time, money and joined up civic thinking. It takes a council that looks beyond today and tomorrow – it takes people to look to the future.
By reshaping our spaces we have an opportunity to ensure our high streets, are destinations where people really want to go.
‘The centre of Witney is much nicer now with less polluting cars. Take the chance, have some imagination and start using the road for bars and restaurants.’
We need to put people first and by that I mean the consumer, not the businesses and not the traffic. We need to ensure people feel a sense of pride in their towns, they should feel safe, happy and cared for. If we can do that we can revitalise our high street.
‘This is bizarre. Isn’t it obvious that trade was affected by a global pandemic rather than cars being allowed to drive directly past shops?’
Many pedestrianised town centres are doing just that and have increased the amount of days when a market of some description is on. Specialist food, farmers markets and Arts and Craft markets all add to the vibrancy of the town. And with the emphasis on pedestrians they encourage interaction. This has the benefit of attracting new people to the town as a destination in itself rather than as a route along which to travel to a destination elsewhere. The existing shops benefit from new footfall and the dynamics of the town increases.
‘…by closing the high street we are taking the damaging exhaust gasses that cars produce away from our children and old people which is a massive health benefit. We need to stop prioritising cars over peoples health and well-being’
Obviously by reading this you have probably gathered that I am personally opposed to reopening the High Street, if for no other reason than we simply can’t blame the traffic restrictions for the decline of business when there are so many other pandemic orientated factors to be considered.
