A recently launched car park could enable frequent rail users to make significant annual savings on parking fees.

The site offers daily rates of £5 and is positioned on Higham Way, a short 150-metre walk from the railway station, where the APCOA-operated east car park charges £9.30 per day.

The facility was established by E5 Group together with Gallan Group, a Birmingham-headquartered firm, with the intention of lowering costs for those who commute daily.

Kevin Stevens, president of E5 Group, explained that commuters across the nation are experiencing significant financial pressure, with parking charges forming a substantial portion of their everyday spending. He noted that at almost £10 daily, the cost of leaving a vehicle near Banbury station has become genuinely unaffordable for regular users. The company sought to provide a workable answer to this problem.

The land was acquired by E5 Working, which functions as the commercial property arm of E5 Group, and has been functioning as a short-term parking area while proposals for permanent development are prepared.

The car park’s launch follows an extended period of frustration for Banbury commuters throughout 2025, when improvement works undertaken by Oxfordshire County Council and Chiltern Railways resulted in the closure of the west car park beginning in June 2025. This left travellers with no option but to rely on the east-side multi-storey structure until just before the festive season.

Paul Garry, director of Gallan Group, observed that Banbury commuters had already suffered a difficult twelve months, marked by prolonged parking inconvenience at the station whilst improvements were carried out. He added that the last thing residents require, on top of all other pressures, is expenditure of nearly £10 per day merely to leave their car.