Permit parking starts on nine Banbury streets, £80 a year. In the Hightown Road area 71 of 115 residents who replied objected, and it went ahead.

Two residents’ parking schemes came into force in Banbury on 17 August 2026, covering nine streets between them. Residents pay £80 a year for a permit. Anyone else parking in the controlled hours can be issued a penalty.

The larger of the two is in the Hightown Road area, and it went ahead after most of the residents who responded to the council’s own consultation said they did not want it. Of the 115 people inside the proposed area who answered the survey, 71 objected, 29 supported it and 12 partially supported it or raised concerns.

Oxfordshire County Council’s cabinet member for transport management approved the scheme on 26 February 2026. The orders that give it legal effect were made on 10 August and came into force a week later.

Where the restrictions apply

Hightown Road area. “Residents permit holders parking only” applies Monday to Saturday, 8am to 6pm, on the entire lengths of:

  • Dexter Close
  • Foscote Rise
  • Green Lane
  • Lodge Close
  • Ridge Close
  • Valley Road
  • Windmill Close

Outside those hours anyone can park. There are also shared-use bays, where permit holders park freely and everyone else gets two hours with no return within an hour, on Foscote Rise (two bays, next to Nos.24 and 26), Lodge Close (four perpendicular bays next to Greenhill Court) and Valley Road (one 30-metre bay opposite Nos.10 to 14).

Broughton Road and Gilkes Yard. Here the restriction is permit holders only at all times, on the whole of Gilkes Yard and in three new bays on the northern side of Broughton Road: 90 metres adjacent to Nos.40 to 78, 24 metres adjacent to Nos.88 to 102, and 115 metres adjacent to Nos.116 to 174. New double yellow lines have gone in on Broughton Road as well.

Who can apply

Permits are tied to the address, not the driver.

  • Hightown Road area (permit code HR): Dexter Close, Foscote Rise, Green Lane, Hightown Road (even Nos.58 to 82 and odd No.39A), Lodge Close, Ridge Close, Valley Road and Windmill Close, including Greenhill Court.
  • Broughton Road area (permit code BR): the north side of Broughton Road (even Nos.32 to 176) and every property in Gilkes Yard.

Each property can hold a maximum of two residents’ permits, one per resident. If you park off street on your own drive, you do not need one.

What it costs

Permit charges in the new Banbury schemes, from the county council's traffic orders
PermitCost
Resident, per property, per year£80
First block of 25 visitor permitsFree
Second block of 25 visitor permits£31.50
Visitor permits, resident aged 70 or overFree
Contractor permit, up to one week£33.00
One-day vehicle-specific contractor permit£20

Visitor permits are capped at 50 a year and are available to any resident aged 17 or over, whether or not they hold a residents’ permit. Blue badge holders can park without a time limit in permit-holder areas, and for up to three hours on double yellow lines where no loading ban applies. Permits are also available to county-council registered care companies and to NHS and social care staff on home visits, including relatives providing informal care.

If you cannot apply online, the council’s residential permits team takes applications by phone on 01865 519800, and an account can be shared with a family member who applies on your behalf.

Why the council did it anyway

The county council’s report is unusually direct about the objections. It records 71 objections against 29 supports on the parking area itself, and 66 objections against 20 supports on the double yellow lines that were advertised alongside it.

One street dominated the response. Foscote Rise sent in 52 of the 115 answers, and 36 of those were objections. Valley Road sent 21, of which 16 objected. The four smaller closes split more evenly: Dexter Close and Lodge Close each returned 3 objections against 4 supports, Ridge Close 5 against 3, Green Lane 5 against 1 and Windmill Close 3 against 1.

Responses to the Hightown Road area permit parking consultation, by road Stacked bar chart. Of 115 residents inside the proposed area who responded, 71 objected, 12 partly supported or raised concerns, 29 supported and 3 had no opinion. Foscote Rise gave 52 of the 115 responses, 36 of them objections. Valley Road gave 21 responses, 16 of them objections. Most of the street said no. The scheme went in anyway. Responses from within the proposed Hightown Road permit parking area, by road. 115 responses in total. Number at the end of each bar is that road’s total. Foscote Rise 36 14 52 Valley Road 16 3 21 Ridge Close 5 3 11 Dexter Close 3 4 10 Lodge Close 3 4 10 Green Lane 5 7 Windmill Close 3 4 Object Partly support or concerns Support No opinion Source: Oxfordshire County Council, Banbury Hightown Road area (Phase 2) proposed parking restrictions, 26 February 2026. Graphic by Banbury Online

Officers made two arguments. The first is that the scheme originated with residents: during the formal consultation on Phase 1 of the Hightown Road area, implemented in March 2025, six residents in the Phase 2 area complained about commuters and hospital staff parking on their streets. An informal consultation in July and August 2025 then found 44 in favour of a controlled parking scheme, 23 against and 17 undecided.

The second is a claim about how consultations work. Where an informal round comes first, the report says, “there is an inherent potential for bias towards objections at the second stage”, because people who objected early object again while supporters do not feel the need to answer twice.

The council did drop something. The proposed double yellow lines across all seven Hightown Road streets were not approved, after residents argued the turning heads were wide enough to park in without blocking anyone. Officers agreed and recommended withdrawing them. Foscote Rise, Lodge Close and Valley Road got the shared-use bays instead of straight permit-only parking, a change made in response to home-based businesses who said they could not get clients parked.

The most common objection, raised in 32 separate comments, was simply that residents should not have to pay to park outside their own homes. The council’s answer is that permit schemes are funded by the people who benefit from them, and that charges are set by cabinet to cover the running cost.

Thirteen respondents said they thought the scheme was there to raise money. Eight were worried about house prices, which the report dismisses: “There is no evidence linking residents’ parking schemes to changes (positive or negative) in property prices.”

What it means for you

  • If you live on one of the nine streets, apply for a permit before you get a ticket. Enforcement by the council’s contractor Trellint is typically heaviest in the first months of a new scheme.
  • If you commute through Banbury and have been leaving the car near Hightown Road, that has now stopped working Monday to Saturday between 8am and 6pm. Hightown Road itself is a bus route with services every 10 to 20 minutes into the town centre.
  • If you visit someone in the zone, ask them for a visitor permit rather than risking it. Fifty a year is roughly one visit a week.
  • If you are a tradesperson, the £20 one-day permit is cheaper than a penalty, and the shared-use bays on Foscote Rise, Lodge Close and Valley Road give two hours without one.
  • If you think it is not working, the council has committed to a full review about 12 months after implementation, using parking beat surveys and permit uptake. That puts it around August 2027.

Letters went to about 406 properties during the formal consultation, which ran from 3 December 2025 to 9 January 2026.

Sources

Roadworks and closures across the district are on our Banbury roadworks and travel page.