Witney News - Marriotts Walk scoops prestigious planning award

Marriotts Walk scoops prestigious planning award

Witney’s Marriotts Walk development has won a prestigious planning award from the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) South East Region.

The award was given in the ‘Sustainable Communities’ category, recognising sustainable, mixed-use developments in rural or urban areas which meet the needs of their local communities.

The award is the second for Witney from the RTPI. The Woolgate Centre won the RTPI Silver Jubilee Cup for Planning Achievement when it was completed in 1988.

Marriotts Walk was described by the RTPI as providing a “benchmark” for similar developments in historic towns. Judges commented that it was a “high quality scheme” which integrated well with the rest of the town and provided a “good balance” of facilities and architectural style.

West Oxfordshire District Council, which owns the land on which Marriotts Walk was built, was praised for its work on the planning process. The award recognised the key role that Council planners had undertaken in capturing the views of local people, translating them into “workable vision” and helping to deliver the project through difficult economic times.

Martin Randall, Chairman of the RTPI South East Region’s judging panel, said: “The Marriotts Walk scheme demonstrates a number of areas in which the planner has been instrumental in the successful implementation of development. The finished product is a credit to the vision and determination of professional planners and elected members at West Oxfordshire District Council and provides a benchmark for edge of centre mixed use developments in an historic town.”

It is the second award for Marriotts Walk since its opening in October 2009. In March, the District Council received a national Community Partnerships Award in recognition of the work carried out with the local community, the developer and other agencies to deliver the new scheme.

The centre includes a cinema, shops and restaurants, 590-space free car park, more than 140 homes and children’s play area.

Cllr Warwick Robinson, West Oxfordshire District Council’s Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning, said: “We are delighted that Marriotts Walk has received this prestigious award. Great care was taken throughout the entire planning process to deliver a development that would benefit everyone in Witney and West Oxfordshire as a whole, and we are pleased that this has been recognised.

“Marriotts Walk is an asset to West Oxfordshire and I would like to congratulate the planners and developers for their efforts in delivering such a high quality development.”