Work is due to start on a massive industrial site in Bicester this month.

The scheme - called Launton Trade Park -, which is located off Launton Road in an already largely industrial area, will total 26,000 sq ft and has been designed to cater for the trade and warehouse sectors.

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A former vehicle testing centre currently at the site will be demolished and a development of seven new units with two two-storey terraces will be built in its place.

The buildings can be occupied as a whole or split into various units from 3,255 to 14,159 sq ft and there will be 49 car parking spaces, cycle parking, and service aprons in front of

each block.

These aprons provide space for manoeuvring large vehicles, parking spaces for lorries, cars and cycles, and servicing points to each unit through main access doors.

Planning applicant Morleys Stores was granted permission for the project from Cherwell District Council in late 2020 and the site is scheduled for completion by January 2022.

Commercial property experts VSL & Partners is marketing the scheme.

Tom Barton of VSL said: “This exciting new development is the first new trade focussed warehouse scheme within Bicester for some 10 years.

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"Due to the continued residential growth of the town, we envisage new trade users looking to capitalise on this growth of Bicester along with the relocation of some existing businesses which require better visibility to their local customer base.

“Trade counter business has been really strong as we come out of the pandemic with building and associated trades booming, so we anticipate strong demand for this new scheme. Two units are already under offer.”

A reconfigured parking and manoeuvring area will make it easier for vehicles - especially HGVs - to move around the park as well as allow them to enter and leave the site in a forward gear.

Bicester Town Council welcomes the development and the employment it will bring to the town, but Bicester Bike Users Group expressed their concern about the fact that the site is on a stretch of a high-cycle traffic route identified by the new walking and cycling plan for Bicester (LCWIP), however no specific comment was made on how the developer would contribute to the LCWIP.

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VSL & Partners is also instructed on other new developments such as Albion Land’s Axis J9 and the Catalyst hi-tech industrial scheme which is also under construction.

There are other plans for development on Launton Road, including proposals to build Oxfordshire's first drive-thru Greggs bakery. It would be the first standalone Greggs in Bicester.

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