Demolition of the multi story car park on Bolton Road in Banbury to start at the end of the month

A contractor has been appointed to begin demolishing a multi-storey car park in Banbury at the end of this month.

Cherwell District Council has appointed Armac Group to undertake the demolition programme at Bolton Road. The demolition is to start at the end of August with work due to be completed by early December.

The car park has been closed since June after an independent inspection identified significant structural concerns.

During the demolition process there will be a single lane closure along Bolton Road and the footpath running between the car park and the WRVS Centre which links Bolton Road to Castle Street will be closed. To compensate, Cherwell is looking at the possibility of installing additional temporary lighting along the footpath that links Castle Street to Cornhill at the rear of Castle Quay.

Cllr George Reynolds, Cherwell’s deputy leader, said: “This site has been included for regeneration within Cherwell’s adopted Local Plan so at some point in the future this structure would have been demolished. All this report has done is sped up the process; the car park is not safe enough to remain open and we cannot justify spending a large amount of taxpayers’ money on a structure which we will knock down at a future date.

“We appreciate this project has and will continue to cause some inconvenience to nearby properties and users so as much as possible we are trying to keep this to a minimum. We do apologise for the disturbance this has caused but we hope by completing these works now, the work will be finished in time for Christmas when the town and traders are at their busiest.”

Armac Group, which is based in the West Midlands, is expected to arrive on site the week commencing the 22 August to begin preparing the area for works with hoarding and scaffolding. The council is working to contact local businesses and others affected by the work to discuss the schedule prior to demolition commencing.

The demolition work will begin on site shortly afterwards and is expected to be completed by early December. Once the structure and site is cleared, a temporary surface based car park comprising approximately 145 spaces will be introduced on the footprint of the site and will remain operational until redevelopment of the area takes place.

Bolton Road is identified within Cherwell’s Local Plan as a key site for development to potentially incorporate opportunities for a hotel, housing, retail and restaurant units.

Anyone with any questions regarding the demolition process can contact Craig Knight at Cherwell District Council on 01295 227078.