Banbury Online is an independent news and information site for Banbury, Bicester and north Oxfordshire. We report what the public record shows and keep the everyday local information accurate.
Two towns
Banbury is the northern anchor, on the Cherwell and the Oxford Canal, close enough to Warwickshire and Northamptonshire that plenty of people here work across a county line. Bicester is the other centre, on the M40 and the line into London and Oxford, and it has taken a great deal of new housing. The villages in between belong to one town or the other for shopping, school and the doctor, and we write about them by name.
Who decides what
The district council handles planning, bins, licensing and car parks. Oxfordshire County Council runs roads, schools and social care. Getting that distinction right matters, because most complaints go to the wrong one, so we name the responsible authority in every story and link to its own record of the decision.
What we work from
The district’s planning register and committee papers, licensing notices, police.uk crime data, HM Land Registry sold prices, Food Standards Agency hygiene ratings, Environment Agency flood warnings for the Cherwell and its tributaries, and company filings in The Gazette. In a place taking this much new housing, the planning register is where next year’s arguments are already written down.
Corrections and tips
We would rather be accurate than first. Email hello@banburyonline.co.uk if we have got something wrong and we will fix it and note the correction on the page. The same address takes tips and events, and anything you send is treated in confidence.
Banbury Online is part of the GOB Media Group.