AN “EYESORE” industrial site in Wantage is set to be transformed into a new development of flats, offices and retail space by this time next year.

Agents for the former Crystalox and H&L site on Limborough Road said their scheme could be complete by summer 2016.

It would have 14 flats, office space and one shop – probably a clothes shop – said development firm Bushby.

Director Bill Atkinson said his company was already in discussions with planning authority Vale of White Horse District Council about making an application.

He said: “We’ve already paid the money for a planning application, now we will go into the Vale with our architects in the next few months.

“The build would take six to eight months, and we would expect to have flats for rental on the market next year.”

Bushby was also given planning permission in 2012 for a £5m, 46-bedroom hotel with two restaurants on the site.

Mr Atkinson said he would have preferred to build that, but the firm could not find a hotel firm interested.

He said: “It was a plan for a budget hotel which means Travelodge or a Premier Inn, but we couldn’t get any interest.

“We were surprised ourselves. Wantage is a fairly popular destination but it’s not in the same class as Didcot or Abingdon.”

He said: “It is frustrating because we feel it is an ideal place for a hotel, look at the number of people working at Williams F1 and people who come to visit the business.

“If a hotel company came through now we would still be happy to talk to them.”

The new mayor of Wantage St John Dickson, elected earlier this month, said he would also have preferred to see a hotel on the site.

He said with some 5,500 homes due to be built in major developments in Wantage and Grove over the next 15 years, demand for hotel spaces would likely increase.

Julie Mabberley, chairwoman of the Wantage Neighbourhood Plan steering group, said she would welcome the plan as long as it had sufficient parking.

She said: “We need more retail in the town centre – more retail means more employment, and I would rather have retail than a hotel.”

The Crystalox and H&L site, which Bushby manages, owns the rest of the King’s Park retail park on Limborough Road and several other sites in Mill Street and around Wantage.