Banbury's main shopping centre has plummeted in value by nearly 68 per cent since it was bought by the council six years ago.

The Conservative-led Cherwell District Council bought Castle Quays shopping centre and leisure complex for £121.6million in 2017 after an investor dropped out of the project.

In 2020 Debenhams - which was one of the site's flagship stores - and clothes shop USC closed.

Other brands such as Marks and Spencer, Thorntons, Beaverbrooks, Carphone Warehouse and Monsoon had already pulled out.

Green councillor and deputy leader of the opposition Ian Middleton raised the fact its value has again fallen by £4.2million during the Audit, Accounts and Risk Committee meeting.

Oxford Mail: Castle Quay 2021

The figures represent a total loss in asset valuation of 67.5 per cent of the £130million invested in both the shopping centre and the waterside development since 2018.

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Cllr Middleton questioned why these figures had not been published as part of the draft accounts for 2022/23 or in the completed accounts of 2021/22 but were "buried in an appendix of the agenda item for budget setting at the full council meeting in February".

He said: “Considering I’ve been told for the past several years that the purchase of Castle Quay wasn’t a commercial investment, despite clear evidence to the contrary, it’s interesting that it’s now been re-classified as only a regeneration project. 

Oxford Mail:

"Re-classifying it now is a tacit admission by the council that its original strategy was a mistake in view of the fact that it’s now lost over 67 per cent of its combined value and can’t demonstrate a return on investment for council-tax payers on a day to day basis.

"The council didn’t need to buy the centre and could have worked with the original landlords rather than risking public money on an investment they clearly didn’t understand the implications of.

"Essentially the council has saddled itself with nearly £90million of negative equity using borrowed money underwritten by council-tax payers.”

Portfolio member for finance and property Adam Nell, Conservative candidate for Adderbury, Bloxham and Bodicote, said: "Cllr Middleton is very keen to suggest that we did it as some kind of commercial investment to make money and that’s just not the case.

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"It was reclassified as a regeneration project in terms of our accounts but the way that we envisaged this project was not done to make money and Cllr Middleton knows that. He’s been told that openly in the council chamber time and time again.

"He has one piece of paper which he relies on where it is described as an investment and that comes from after we had bought it. That report came after the transaction.

He added: "Lots of councils around the country own stakes in shopping centres. I accept it has lost value, it’s recorded in our accounts. Urban regeneration takes a very long time – decades.

"I think we would put our hands up and say, we took a first step in regenerating Banbury town centre because that’s what our residents wanted us to do."