Cherwell's car parks in Banbury and Bicester start charging £1.60 overnight from 28 September. The council's own car park pages still say evenings are free.
Parking in Cherwell District Council’s car parks in Banbury and Bicester stops being free in the evening on Monday 28 September. A charge of £1.60 for up to 14 hours will apply between 6pm and 8am, every day of the week.
The council has not put out a news release about it. Its own car park pages still tell drivers “free parking after 6:00pm”. The change appears only in a statutory notice dated 3 September 2026 and published on the Public Notice Portal, signed by Shiraz Sheikh, the council’s Assistant Director for Law and Governance.
What is changing
The notice does two things.
First, it rewrites the definition of “charging hours” in the council’s 2011 off-street parking order. At the moment those hours are fixed for every car park: 8am to 6pm. They become “the periods as specified at each parking place”, which is what makes an overnight band possible.
Second, it adds that band. From 28 September, in every car park listed below:
- 6pm to 8am, all days: £1.60 for up to 14 hours.
Five days a year stay free of charge everywhere: Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Day, Good Friday and Easter Sunday.
Which car parks
In Banbury, the notice lists the long stay car parks at Upper Windsor Street, Compton Road, Spiceball Park (Riverside), Calthorpe Street (west side), North Bar (west side), South Bar (west and east sides), Bolton Road and Cherwell Drive.
The short stay car parks are Spiceball Park (The Mill), Spiceball Park (Chamberlaine Court), Calthorpe Street (west and east sides), North Bar (east side), South Bar (east side) and Horse Fair (west side). Market Place (north side) is the one ultra-short-stay car park.
In Bicester, it covers the Cattle Market long stay car park, the short stay car parks at Claremont, Victoria Road and Chapel Brook, and Market Square.
Kidlington is named in the title of the 2011 order but is not in this variation.
Two places keep free parking and are marked “no change”: West Bar Street (north side) in Banbury, and the disabled bays on Bridge Street (south side). Blue badge holders continue to park free of charge up to the maximum stay permitted in all of the council’s car parks.
The daytime rates are already what the notice calls “varied”
The notice sets the daytime charges out as a rise from £1.40 to £1.60 for an hour, £2.60 to £2.80 for two, £3.60 to £3.90 for three, £4.60 to £5.00 for four, and £6.50 to £7.50 for the day rate.
Drivers will not feel that on 28 September, because they are already paying it. The council’s own directory record for Bolton Road gives exactly the £1.60 to £7.50 scale and dates it “from 30/06/2026”. The records for Cattle Market in Bicester and Market Place in Banbury say the same.
So the practical change on 28 September is the overnight charge and the season tickets. At Market Place, the ultra-short-stay tariff of £1.60 for 30 minutes and £2.30 for an hour is also already in force.
One small increase is genuinely new. The set-down and pick-up bay on Bridge Street (south side), which serves Banbury bus station, goes from 50p to 70p for up to 15 minutes. That is a rise of 40 per cent on the fee people pay to drop someone at the bus station.
Season tickets
Season ticket prices, which apply to the long stay car parks in both towns, rise on the same date.
| Ticket | Now | From 28 September | Increase |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday to Friday, monthly | £101.00 | £110.00 | 8.9% |
| Monday to Friday, quarterly | £252.00 | £290.00 | 15.1% |
| Monday to Friday, annual | £938.00 | £1,030.00 | 9.8% |
| Monday to Sunday, monthly | £120.00 | £135.00 | 12.5% |
| Monday to Sunday, quarterly | £330.00 | £360.00 | 9.1% |
| Monday to Sunday, annual | £1,200.00 | £1,300.00 | 8.3% |
The quarterly Monday to Friday ticket takes the largest increase, at £38. It is also the only one where the new price is worse value than buying three monthly tickets: three months at £110 comes to £330, against £290 for the quarter, so the quarterly still saves £40 rather than the £51 it saves today.
What it means for you
If you park in town for an evening out, budget an extra £1.60 from 28 September. That covers up to 14 hours, so one payment gets you from 6pm through to 8am the next morning.
If you work an evening shift or leave a car overnight, the same £1.60 applies, and it applies on Sundays and bank holidays too. Only the five named holidays are free.
If you have a season ticket, check when yours renews. Buying before 28 September at the current price saves between £9 on a monthly ticket and £100 on an annual one.
If you use the bus station drop-off, the Bridge Street bay goes to 70p.
If you hold a blue badge, nothing changes. Parking remains free of charge up to the maximum stay permitted.
There is no consultation attached to this. A variation of charges under section 35C of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 is a notice, not a proposal, and the notice gives no address for objections.
Sources
- Cherwell District Council, Notice of Variation of Charges at the Council’s Off-Street Parking Places in Banbury and Bicester, dated 3 September 2026, published on the Public Notice Portal
- Cherwell District Council, car parks directory, records for Bolton Road, Cattle Market, Claremont and Market Place, read on 13 September 2026
More on getting around the district is on our Banbury roadworks and travel page, and the charges for the district’s own car parks are set out in our guide to parking in Banbury.
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