There’s great news for shoppers in Abingdon – the number of empty shops in the town has halved in the past year. In the Vale of White Horse District Council’s annual retail vacancy survey , only 4.4 per cent of Abingdon’s shops are empty in 2015 compared with 8.8 per cent in the same survey last year. The overall number of empty shops in the Vale has remained low at five per cent for the third year in a row. That’s significantly lower than the national average of 12.9 per cent. The number of empty shops in Wantage, which was recently voted High Street of the Year, has stayed more or less the same and remains less than four per cent. The number of empty shops Faringdon has stayed significantly lower than the national average. All three towns are bringing in a mix of new independent and national retailers, but still have higher levels of independent and ‘destination’ shops, which help bring people in from further afield to spend their money, and ultimately provide jobs to local people. Cllr Matthew Barber, cabinet member for Economic Development, and Leader of the Vale, said: “This is excellent news for Abingdon in particular, and good news for all of our residents across the district – we’ve been working hard to promote all of our towns as a thriving place for local entrepreneurs to set up shop, as well as getting national companies to come along to help provide a great mix of choice on the high street for our residents. We’ve been working really closely with the town councils and local chambers of commerce and everybody can be proud of this success.”