No, clearly not. So, instead of the Council forcing landlords to rent out for tiny returns to unused charity shops, we should be actively allowing change of use. Retail is finished in Oxford. The need for space for other uses isn't. /ends - ThreadSky

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spinninghugo.bsky.social • 92 days ago

No, clearly not.

So, instead of the Council forcing landlords to rent out for tiny returns to unused charity shops, we should be actively allowing change of use.

Retail is finished in Oxford. The need for space for other uses isn't.

/ends

Comments

tylermacro.bsky.social•92 days ago

What other uses?

spinninghugo.bsky.social•92 days ago

See the old Debenhams and the cinema. Office space. Research space. Accommodation. Councils don't like the change of use because it reduces retail, taking us even further below critical mass, but retail is finished anyway.

garethpotter.com•92 days ago

Oxford is so hopeless at this though. I have worked there for nigh on two years now and am amazed at how all that space on Park End Street and Hythe Bridge Street has just sat unused. Right by the station, huge potential, and yet…

spinninghugo.bsky.social•92 days ago

They are, at last, going to redevelop some of the area on Hythe Bridge St. But yes, the forces of NIMBYism are almost overwhelming in Oxford, both of the left and right.

garethpotter.com•92 days ago

It’s incredible! World-leading university. The space around the station - which is at least a mile from all the pretty colleges - should be packed with skyscrapers, innovation hubs, what-have-you. Instead you’ve got…whatever all that is.

spinninghugo.bsky.social•92 days ago

Part of the problem with that area is that it floods (great place for a railway station).

So there is a set of allotments just by the station(!). But I doubt they'll be built upon as it would be like pressing down on a wet sponge.

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