Banbury News

Banbury Banbury Town Centre: £100,000 for 73 Benches and 24 Bins Cherwell has signed off £100,000 to replace or repaint Banbury's benches, bins and planters. The £21,500 weekend cleaning trial started on 1 September. 20 September 2026 · 6 min read Housing Cherwell House Prices Up 4.7%, 2nd Fastest in the South East The average Cherwell home hit £356,935 in July, up 4.7% in a year, while the South East rose 0.2%. Only Vale of White Horse grew faster in the region. 17 September 2026 · 5 min read Bicester Bicester Asylum Plan: Cherwell Officers Now Urge Refusal Cherwell's officers have moved from a likely objection to asking the government to refuse the 1,256-place plan. Councillors vote at 4pm on 16 September. 13 September 2026 · 9 min read Banbury Banbury Parking: Free After 6pm Ends on 28 September 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. 13 September 2026 · 6 min read Banbury Cherwell District Council Abolition Paused: May 2027 Vote Cherwell's abolition on 1 April 2028 is on hold and 16 district seats go to the polls in May 2027 after all. The leader heard it first from a BBC reporter. 10 September 2026 · 8 min read Bicester Bicester Asylum Site: Cherwell Likely to Object on 16 Sept Officers say the council is likely to object or hold. Councillors debate the 1,256-bed plan at 4pm on 16 September, and there is no public speaking on it. 10 September 2026 · 8 min read Bicester Bicester Asylum Plan: 11 Days to Comment from 7 Sept Comments on the Home Office plan for 1,256 asylum seekers at MOD Bicester run 7 to 17 September. Its own papers say the ten-year use is designed to last longer. 6 September 2026 · 6 min read Banbury Cherwell Council Q1: 38.7% of Planning Bids on Time Just 38.7% of smaller planning applications were decided on time against a 70% target, the Q1 report to scrutiny on 8 September shows. Affordable homes doubled. 6 September 2026 · 5 min read Banbury Banbury 10K: Six Roads Shut 09:45 to 13:00 on Sunday Bath Road, Broughton Road, Banbury Road, Sandfine Road and Main Road all close from 09:45 on Sunday 6 September for the town's first 10K. About 800 runners. 3 September 2026 · 6 min read Bicester Bicester Village Licence: Alcohol to 1am, 7 Days a Week Value Retail has applied to open Bicester Village until 01:30 daily and sell alcohol from 08:00. It shuts at 20:00 now. Comments close 15 September. 3 September 2026 · 5 min read Kidlington Kidlington dump cleared: 22,105 tonnes taken away 22,105 tonnes came out of the dump beside the A34, more than any published estimate. Four arrests so far, and the footpath across the site is still shut. 30 August 2026 · 7 min read Banbury Cherwell fridge collections: 150 a month, letter to Defra Cherwell collects more than 150 fridges and freezers a month and can collect none. Its leader has written to a Defra minister asking for sites to be restored. 30 August 2026 · 4 min read Banbury Cherwell Local Plan clears 80% test by one point The inspector ruled the plan's 911 homes a year meets 81% of the 1,118 threshold, one point clear. The 20,042-home plan now goes to hearings this autumn. 27 August 2026 · 6 min read Bicester Bicester cricket pitch scrapped, unused since 2017 Cherwell has agreed to dig up the cricket square at Whitelands Farm Sports Ground, never booked since it opened, and turn it over to rugby. Fringford gets the money. 27 August 2026 · 4 min read Bicester Bicester Motion plans: 200 flats, comments close 18 Sept Three outline bids landed this month: 200 apartments, a 3.1km circuit and 86,700sqm of floorspace. The NHS says Bicester's GP surgery is already over capacity. 23 August 2026 · 8 min read Banbury Banbury jobless claims: Ruscote 4.4%, Deddington 1.2% Cherwell's claimant count fell 2.8% while the UK's rose. But Banbury's five wards hold half the district's claims, at rates up to 4.4% in Ruscote. 23 August 2026 · 8 min read Banbury Banbury parking permits: 71 objected, scheme starts anyway 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. 20 August 2026 · 9 min read Banbury Banbury school street: Harriers View shuts from 2 September Harriers View closes to most traffic at drop-off and pick-up from 2 September, six months late. Camera enforced. Who is exempt, and how to apply. 20 August 2026 · 8 min read Banbury Cherwell house prices up £14,381 in a year, twice Oxford's rate The average Cherwell home reached £357,800 in May 2026, up 4.2% on the year against 2.2% in Oxford and a 2.4% fall in West Oxfordshire. Semis rose fastest, flats barely moved. 16 August 2026 · 5 min read Banbury Cherwell fridge collections suspended: what to do instead Cherwell District Council has suspended new bulky-waste bookings for fridges and freezers, blaming a national shortage of recycling capacity. Alkerton and Ardley recycling centres still take them from Oxfordshire residents, with a booking and proof of address. 16 August 2026 · 5 min read Banbury Cherwell holds £19.7m of Section 106 developer money The council says it put £703,884 of developer money into community projects. Its own statutory return shows £19,729,405 was still held at 31 March 2025, £4.9m of it for upkeep. 14 August 2026 · 5 min read Banbury Banbury A level results 2026: what two schools published Blessed George Napier reports over 45% of grades at A*-B and 55% A*/A in physics. Wykham Park leavers head to Reading, Nottingham and Leicester. 14 August 2026 · 4 min read