Parking on West End needs a resident's permit from 17 August, at £70 a year and two per household. Witney Town Council objected and was overruled.

Parking on West End in Witney now needs a resident’s permit, and a permit costs £70 a year. Oxfordshire County Council made the order on 10 August 2026 and it came into force on 17 August, turning an informal arrangement that residents had used for free into a charged, enforceable scheme.

Witney Town Council opposed it. In its consultation response the town council said the proposal did not offer a clear or effective solution, that the area is already a recognised choke point, and that better enforcement of the restrictions already there would have been the more appropriate answer.

The county went ahead anyway, with one change: a plan to remove some double yellow lines and lengthen the parking bays was dropped after residents objected.

What changed on the street

  • North side: three time-limited bays, next to numbers 14 to 16, 20 to 34 and 36 to 44, became permit holders only.
  • South side: two time-limited bays, next to number 9 and numbers 11 to 21, became shared use. Permit holders can park at any time. Anyone else can park for two hours with no return within one hour, 8am to 6pm every day. Outside those hours it is permit holders only.

Before this, the bays on both sides were signed “2 hours, no return within 1 hour, Monday to Saturday, 8am to 6pm”, and residents parked under an informal agreement.

The county’s stated aim is to manage all-day parking by commuters and non-residents, and to formalise the existing arrangement for residents. Enforcement is by the county’s contractor, Trellint. The council says it is standard practice to step up enforcement in the first months of a new scheme.

Who can get a permit, and what it costs

Eligible addresses are West End even numbers 2 to 80 and odd numbers 1 to 75. Permits carry the local identifier “WE”, which appears on the street signs.

West End permit charges, as set out in the order of 10 August 2026
PermitCostLimit
Resident's permit£70 a yearOne per resident, maximum two per property
Visitor permits, first block of 25FreeUsually 50 days' worth a year, issued in blocks of 25
Visitor permits, second block of 25£31.50Free for residents aged 70 or over
Contractor's permit£33Any period up to a week, uses a resident's space
Table of West Oxfordshire parking permit charges: resident's permit up from £65 to £70 a year, an 8 per cent rise, and the second block of 25 visitor permits up from £25 to £31.50, a 26 per cent rise, both from 1 April 2026
What the West End order sets, and how the underlying county charges changed in April.

A temporary resident gets 25 visitor permits. A resident whose car is off the road can get a temporary permit for a replacement vehicle. Permits are virtual, so there is nothing to display in the windscreen.

One figure to check before you budget. The county’s own fees and charges schedule for 2026/27 prices the first block of 25 West Oxfordshire visitor permits at £10, “subject to approval following consultation”, while the order says the first block is free. The order is the legal instrument and is the more recent of the two, but it is worth confirming with the county’s residential permits team before you apply.

The £70 is itself a rise. The same schedule shows the West Oxfordshire parking permit, covering Woodstock, Witney, Long Hanborough and Charlbury, went from £65 to £70 on 1 April 2026, an 8 per cent increase the council attributes to keeping income in line with a 4.5 per cent RPI rise on its contract. The second block of visitor permits rose further, from £25 to £31.50, a 26 per cent increase, to bring West Oxfordshire in line with the rest of the county.

What it means for you

If you live on West End, you are not obliged to buy a permit. The county’s own report makes the point plainly: residents can choose to park outside the scheme instead. What has gone is the option of parking free outside your own house under the old informal arrangement.

If you drive into Witney and used to leave a car on West End for the day, that no longer works on the north side at all, and on the south side you get two hours between 8am and 6pm.

Blue badge holders keep their exemptions. They can park on double yellow lines for up to three hours where a loading ban is not in force, and without a time limit inside permit holder areas. Carers’ permit holders, loading and unloading, emergency services, universal service providers, works vehicles and funeral vehicles are also exempt from the waiting restrictions.

The district council’s car parks are a separate matter and remain free. Details of all six, with space counts and maximum stays, are in Witney roadworks and travel.

How it was decided

The county ran an informal consultation in July and August 2025, offering residents three options. Formalising the existing arrangement with permit holder only bays drew 34 in support, 5 against and 6 unsure. Removing the time restriction and leaving the bays unrestricted drew 5 in support and 37 against. Keeping the two-hour restriction with no exemption for residents drew 11 in support and 30 against. Forty-five residents responded.

The formal consultation ran from 4 December 2024 to 9 January 2025, with letters to about 107 properties nearby. It drew 26 responses. Among people who identified themselves as West End residents, the north side proposal drew 10 in support and 2 objecting; the south side drew 3 in support, 5 objecting and 4 partly supporting or raising concerns. Thames Valley Police did not object.

Officers noted the drop in numbers between the two rounds, and argued that people who object are more likely to respond twice than people who support a scheme.

The recurring objections, and the council’s answers:

  • Permits should cover both sides. Six respondents said so. Officers said permit holders only on the south side would harm the few businesses there.
  • Residents should not have to pay. Four respondents said so, one specifically objecting to the cost when parking had been free. Officers said permit schemes must be paid for by the people who benefit, and that charges are set by cabinet to cover running costs.
  • Enforce what is already there. Raised by the town council and by two respondents. Officers pointed to Trellint and increased early enforcement.
  • Two different rules on one street is confusing. The town council’s point. Officers said signage would set the restrictions out clearly and that mixed arrangements already work elsewhere in Witney.
  • There is not enough space anyway. Two respondents. Officers had measured the highway width, and it was that measurement work, plus the objections, that led them to withdraw the double yellow line reduction.

The cabinet member for transport management approved the scheme on 26 February 2026. The order followed on 10 August. Officers have said the scheme will be monitored and that neighbouring roads could be added later if the evidence supports it.

Anyone who wants to challenge the order’s validity in the High Court has six weeks from 10 August 2026.

Sources