City shopping centre 'not fit for purpose'

A city's 60-year-old shopping centre is not fit for purpose and is "nothing less than an eyesore in places", a councillor has said.

Templars Square shopping centre in Cowley, Oxford, was built in 1965 and currently has several empty units inside and outside.

Linda Smith, Oxford City Council's cabinet member for housing, said the council was "impatient" for the centre's owner to "crack on with [its development] ASAP".

Real estate company Redevco, which bought the centre in 2021, said complications with the site's ownership structure meant it was "some way off" being able to share plans.

Plans were approved to redevelop the centre in 2017, but its then-owners New River sold the shopping centre to Dutch real estate company Redevco for £38.8m in 2021.

The company last undertook a public consultation on its plans in 2022 but said no further consultations were currently planned.

Speaking to the BBC, Ms Smith said the council was "impatient" for the centre to be redeveloped.

"The city council aren't holding Redecvo back at all," she said. "We understand its a difficult time for investment in this kind of development.

"But if it is going to take time, then it's really important that the centre isn't allowed to just spiral downwards and get worse."

Oxford East MP Anneliese Dodds previously told BBC Radio Oxford of her "despair" at the state the former site of the Lord Nelson pub on Between Towns Road.

She said she had been "really pushing" Redevco to begin redevelopment of the site "as soon as possible".

Claire Yeadon, asset manager for Redevco, said the company were continuing to "evolve" plans for the centre but was "some way off" from being able to share plans publicly.

The company was meeting with the city council regularly and was working to fill the empty units with independent retailers, she added.

Meanwhile a display of classic cars at the centre will mark its 60th anniversary on 10 and 11 May.

Oxford historian and tour guide Maurice East, who has helped organise the event, said Templars Square had played a crucial part in Oxford's car-making history, but needed to change.

"Cowley Centre [as it was previously known] was meant to be the centre of industrial Oxford," he said.

"I think it still serves the community in and around this area, but Oxford city centre has re-asserted itself with the Westgate.

"I think what [Templars Square] needs is to find a new purpose and [find a new way] to attract people here".

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