Cherwell Street, Banbury - Bus Service Improvement Scheme (You Said We Did 2025)

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Second consultation

You Said We Did update from the 2025 consultation

We have been awarded government funding to improve bus journey times and reliability into and out of Banbury town centre.

The focus is along Cherwell Street, where we want to improve the current George Street bus lane, access for buses into Bridge Street west and the crossing facilities and signalling at the George Street and Bridge Street junctions.

We ran a second consultation from 24 February to 23 March 2025 to address feedback from the first consultation and present changes to the design. The Cherwell Street second consultation report can be found on the right hand side of this page as a downloadable document, or on our county council meeting papers web page. We also shared traffic modelling data and invited more feedback to help us develop a final design.

This consultation received 198 responses and showed a decline in support for the objectives compared to the first consultation.


You said, We did

The scheme will make congestion, delays and pollution worse, especially the proposed reduction of all-traffic lanes.

We are maintaining the number of running lanes on Concord Avenue and George Street to ease congestion impacts while maintaining the bus and pedestrian benefits of the scheme.

Buses are not widely used, with reduced services that are costly, inconvenient and inaccessible. The scheme will also delay buses rather than improve journey times.

We have shared bus journey feedback with our bus team and operators in Banbury. Congestion can make bus services unreliable, and these improvements aim to prioritise bus movement where possible. Improving bus journey time reliability should encourage more people to travel by bus.

Pedestrian improvements are not needed, or the proposals are wrong.

There are poor crossing facilities for people who walk or wheel in central Banbury, including a lack of pedestrian facilities at the George Street junction. We are improving the pedestrian crossing facilities at this junction, introducing one new crossing point and improving the other two. We are also removing two pedestrian islands - one at the Bridge Street east junction and one at the Bridge Street west junction - to provide more carriageway space, remove the risk of cars mounting the pavement and create a more direct pedestrian crossing. Crossings on Cherwell Street and Concord Avenue will also be improved by retaining the islands but removing the staggered layout. This is in line with our Local Transport and Connectivity Plan, which prioritises walking, wheeling and cycling.

The scheme is a waste of money, and the funds should be used elsewhere.

This work is largely funded by the Department for Transport as part of our Bus Service Improvement Plan. Additional Section 106 funding is provided by local developers. The funding is allocated for this scheme and cannot be used elsewhere.

Build a ring road, new motorway junction, or replace the existing central Banbury junctions with roundabouts instead.

The need and role of highway improvements will be considered within the Movement & Place Plan for Banbury, including access to the strategic road network. A roundabout at Bridge Street/Cherwell Street junction was discounted in the early stages of this scheme, due to limited space and safety issues for pedestrians and cyclists.

Cars are essential and the expectation to stop using them is not realistic.

Reducing private car use is part of our Local Transport and Connectivity Plan targets, as well as promoting sustainable and active travel options where they are possible and practical. The scheme contributes to those targets and to our Vision Zero objectives to reduce road casualties to zero.

The existing traffic signals are set up incorrectly or need other changes.

This scheme will make improvements to the existing traffic signals to improve flow through the junction for buses, pedestrians, cyclists and general traffic.

This scheme will make Banbury less attractive, and it will lose shops.

This scheme is part of wider plans to improve accessibility within Banbury town centre, making it easier and safer to visit key destinations, including shops. These wider plans include various Oxfordshire County Council, Cherwell District Council and government public transport strategies.

This scheme includes no improvements for cyclists and cycling is dangerous in Banbury.

This scheme focuses on bus service improvements and due to a lack of available space, improvements for cyclists cannot be included. However, route 10 of the Banbury Local Cycling & Walking Plan schemes is being designed and will include a cycle route via Lower Cherwell Street between George Street and Bridge Street east. The final design of the Cherwell Street bus improvements will include features to upgrade the Bridge Street and George Street junctions to toucan crossings, when the cycle link is delivered.


Next steps

All feedback has been reviewed, and the Cherwell Street second consultation report can be found on the right hand side of this page as a downloadable document, our county council meeting papers web page.

We have spent summer 2025 talking to local groups and using their feedback, the consultation feedback and technical and safety assessments to inform the final design ready for construction.

A decision to accept the amended design and move forward to construction was made at the 4 September Cabinet Member Decision meeting.

Second consultation

You Said We Did update from the 2025 consultation

We have been awarded government funding to improve bus journey times and reliability into and out of Banbury town centre.

The focus is along Cherwell Street, where we want to improve the current George Street bus lane, access for buses into Bridge Street west and the crossing facilities and signalling at the George Street and Bridge Street junctions.

We ran a second consultation from 24 February to 23 March 2025 to address feedback from the first consultation and present changes to the design. The Cherwell Street second consultation report can be found on the right hand side of this page as a downloadable document, or on our county council meeting papers web page. We also shared traffic modelling data and invited more feedback to help us develop a final design.

This consultation received 198 responses and showed a decline in support for the objectives compared to the first consultation.


You said, We did

The scheme will make congestion, delays and pollution worse, especially the proposed reduction of all-traffic lanes.

We are maintaining the number of running lanes on Concord Avenue and George Street to ease congestion impacts while maintaining the bus and pedestrian benefits of the scheme.

Buses are not widely used, with reduced services that are costly, inconvenient and inaccessible. The scheme will also delay buses rather than improve journey times.

We have shared bus journey feedback with our bus team and operators in Banbury. Congestion can make bus services unreliable, and these improvements aim to prioritise bus movement where possible. Improving bus journey time reliability should encourage more people to travel by bus.

Pedestrian improvements are not needed, or the proposals are wrong.

There are poor crossing facilities for people who walk or wheel in central Banbury, including a lack of pedestrian facilities at the George Street junction. We are improving the pedestrian crossing facilities at this junction, introducing one new crossing point and improving the other two. We are also removing two pedestrian islands - one at the Bridge Street east junction and one at the Bridge Street west junction - to provide more carriageway space, remove the risk of cars mounting the pavement and create a more direct pedestrian crossing. Crossings on Cherwell Street and Concord Avenue will also be improved by retaining the islands but removing the staggered layout. This is in line with our Local Transport and Connectivity Plan, which prioritises walking, wheeling and cycling.

The scheme is a waste of money, and the funds should be used elsewhere.

This work is largely funded by the Department for Transport as part of our Bus Service Improvement Plan. Additional Section 106 funding is provided by local developers. The funding is allocated for this scheme and cannot be used elsewhere.

Build a ring road, new motorway junction, or replace the existing central Banbury junctions with roundabouts instead.

The need and role of highway improvements will be considered within the Movement & Place Plan for Banbury, including access to the strategic road network. A roundabout at Bridge Street/Cherwell Street junction was discounted in the early stages of this scheme, due to limited space and safety issues for pedestrians and cyclists.

Cars are essential and the expectation to stop using them is not realistic.

Reducing private car use is part of our Local Transport and Connectivity Plan targets, as well as promoting sustainable and active travel options where they are possible and practical. The scheme contributes to those targets and to our Vision Zero objectives to reduce road casualties to zero.

The existing traffic signals are set up incorrectly or need other changes.

This scheme will make improvements to the existing traffic signals to improve flow through the junction for buses, pedestrians, cyclists and general traffic.

This scheme will make Banbury less attractive, and it will lose shops.

This scheme is part of wider plans to improve accessibility within Banbury town centre, making it easier and safer to visit key destinations, including shops. These wider plans include various Oxfordshire County Council, Cherwell District Council and government public transport strategies.

This scheme includes no improvements for cyclists and cycling is dangerous in Banbury.

This scheme focuses on bus service improvements and due to a lack of available space, improvements for cyclists cannot be included. However, route 10 of the Banbury Local Cycling & Walking Plan schemes is being designed and will include a cycle route via Lower Cherwell Street between George Street and Bridge Street east. The final design of the Cherwell Street bus improvements will include features to upgrade the Bridge Street and George Street junctions to toucan crossings, when the cycle link is delivered.


Next steps

All feedback has been reviewed, and the Cherwell Street second consultation report can be found on the right hand side of this page as a downloadable document, our county council meeting papers web page.

We have spent summer 2025 talking to local groups and using their feedback, the consultation feedback and technical and safety assessments to inform the final design ready for construction.

A decision to accept the amended design and move forward to construction was made at the 4 September Cabinet Member Decision meeting.

Page published: 25 Sep 2025, 09:32 AM