A COMPANY which has been based in Bicester for 27 years says it is being forced to move out due to a lack of suitable sites for expansion.

Car parts wholesaler Firstline plans to move its 130 staff to a site just off junction 11 of the M40 at Banbury, after a search for an alternative site in Bicester failed.

A number of companies have also found there was not enough warehousing or industrial land to allow them to stay in the town and expand.

Cherwell District Council has commissioned a review of commercial land in Bicester, amid growing concern over the issue.

Last year, coal merchant AE Prentice and Burgess Reclamation moved to Souldern, between Bicester and Banbury, after their former yards in Station Approach were sold to make way for a car park extension for Bicester Village shopping centre. The firms could not find a suitable site in or around Bicester.

Ben Jackson, chairman of Bicester Chamber of Commerce, said members had warned the council there were concerns over sites allocated for business use several years ago.

He said: “As a growing town, we need a constructive approach, combined with imaginative and creative thinking and a can-do attitude around ways to retain employment.”

Peter Joyner, managing director of Firstline, which is based in Bessemer Close, said the firm needed a 120,000sq ft or six-acre site in order to expand.

He said: “It has been really tough, because we have been here for so long.

“We have been on to Cherwell District Council and there’s nothing in the Bicester area.

“We have managed to find a site off junction 11 at Banbury which will take about 18 minutes to get to by motorway, so we will still be in the area and hope everyone will still work for us.

“It was quite annoying we couldn’t find anywhere in Bicester.

“But we have now found somewhere and we’re excited about moving there.”

Norman Bolster, Cherwell’s executive member for economic development and estates, said a survey of employment land had been commissioned to cover the district.

He said: “We recognise that there’s a shortage of employment land in Bicester and part of our greater plan for the town is to rectify this.

“There are already some developments in the pipeline and we’re eager to see what opportunities P3Eco reveals in its plans for the eco-town development.”

Mr Bolster said one of the problems the council faced was that landowners were not always keen to sell land for commercial use.

John Silverside, of commercial property agents Carter Jonas, said he knew of just three sites available, 1.8 acres in Telford Road, and two sites with outline planning permission, one off Skimmingdish Lane and another off the A41, near Wyevale Garden Centre.

He added: “There’s certainly a lot of activity happening in Bicester but the business sector could lag behind.”