Local News

The changes would be paid for with less money for projects such as solar installations A free weekend parking trial, more street cleaning in Banbury and increased support for homeless veterans are amongst the proposals from Conservative Cherwell District councillors as part of the budget changes they are putting forward next week. On Monday the […]

The group will perform three one-act plays each evening A busy few days for our local amateur dramatics groups starts today as Brackley Players launch their 2026 season with An Evening of One-Act Plays. Staged over three nights, the programme features three contrasting short works directed by members of the company. The evening opens with […]

He will be overseeing preparations for Saturday’s game Brackley Town have appointed former Banbury United manager Andy Whing as the club’s new First Team Manager. Whing was recently at Barrow AFC but before that spent 19 months in charge at Solihull Moors, where he guided them to the 2024 National League play-off final. Previously during […]

A 17-year-old male has been arrested with a description issued for a second male A boy in his late teens has been assaulted and threatened with a firearm in Banbury’s Princess Diana Park. It happened at around 7.30pm on Tuesday last week (February 10). The victim was walking in the park when he was assaulted […]

This is a crucial stage towards the end of the process Public hearings looking at Cherwell District Council’s Local Plan Review have begun today.  Government-appointed inspectors will not only consider the plan itself, but also all representations received during the most recent consultation. So far preparation of the new Local Plan has included four public […]

There’s a fear unpopular applications might be approved for fear of further costs by Esme Kenney, Local Democracy Reporter An Oxfordshire council was forced to pay more than £429,000 in costs due to planning appeals, sparking fears that planners could be under pressure to approve controversial applications and create a “feeding frenzy” for developers. The […]

The U-turn was made at a meeting last night by Nadia Lincoln, Local Democracy Reporter The administration on West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) has u-turned on its plans to introduce new parking charges across Daventry, Towcester and Brackley in its final 2026/27 budget proposals. The reversal of the planned parking fees was announced at a cabinet […]

Concerns have been expressed that the application was not handled properly by Nadia Lincoln, Local Democracy Reporter West Northamptonshire councillors will take a fresh look at controversial plans for a bioenergy plant near a rural village, following concerns that the application was not handled properly and could breach planning law. The Acorn Bioenergy Ltd scheme […]

Community resolutions and cautions have been issued Over the past few weeks members of the Banbury Neighbourhood Policing Team have completed multiple stop searches under Section 23 of the Misuse of Drugs Act. This resulted in one male found in possession of Class B drugs – they received a Community Resolution. Another male was issued […]

Police: “We’ll keep working hard to protect Banbury” Two young males have been arrested by police for carrying knifes in Banbury town centre.   They had been spotted acting suspiciously by security staff in the Castle Quay Shopping Centre. Police completed a stop search on the males, during which the knives were found.   One of them […]