Banbury is growing. New housing developments are being approved and built across the town, and while I welcome the principle that people should have access to good, affordable homes, I am increasingly concerned that the infrastructure to support that growth is not keeping pace.

Roads, schools, GP surgeries, bus routes, cycle paths, green spaces — these are not optional extras. They are the foundations that make a neighbourhood liveable. When they are absent or overstretched, it is existing residents who bear the cost.

Every new home generates demand. A family moving into a new development needs to get their children to school, register with a GP, travel to work, and access local shops and services. If the roads are already congested, the school is already full, and the nearest bus stop is a mile away with an infrequent service, that family — and their neighbours — are being let down from day one.

I have seen this pattern repeated across Banbury. Planning permission is granted, homes are built, and the infrastructure promised to support them either arrives late, arrives in a watered-down form, or does not arrive at all.

Developer contributions — known as Section 106 agreements — are the mechanism by which new development is supposed to fund the infrastructure it creates. In theory, a developer building 200 homes contributes to road improvements, school places, and community facilities as a condition of planning consent.

In practice, the system is under significant strain. Contributions are negotiated case by case, and developers have become increasingly skilled at arguing that viability constraints limit what they can contribute. The result is that bus routes, in particular, have become heavily dependent on Section 106 funding — and when that funding runs out, services are cut.

I am keen to find a lasting solution to bus routes that rely on Section 106 funding. A bus service that exists only as long as a developer's contribution lasts is not a bus service — it is a temporary subsidy that disappears just as a community is becoming established. We need a more sustainable model that treats public transport as essential infrastructure, not an afterthought.

New development also puts pressure on our road network. I believe strongly in making roads safer for all road users: pedestrians, motorists, cyclists, and horses alike. Too often, new housing estates are designed around the car, with narrow pavements, no dedicated cycling infrastructure, and no thought given to equestrian routes that have existed for generations.

When I scrutinise planning applications and raise highways concerns at County Hall, I push for:

• Safe pedestrian routes connecting new developments to town centres, schools, and transport hubs
• Segregated cycling infrastructure that is genuinely usable, not a painted line on a busy road
• Consideration for equestrian users, particularly where new development borders bridleways and rural lanes

I am raising these concerns directly with Oxfordshire County Council's planning and highways teams, and I am scrutinising Section 106 agreements for developments in and around Grimsbury and Castle to ensure that contributions are fair, enforceable, and actually delivered.

I am also engaging with the debate around the government's proposed planning reforms, which have significant implications for how infrastructure obligations are structured in future. The shift towards a national Infrastructure Levy — intended to replace Section 106 in some cases — raises real questions about whether local communities will receive the same level of investment, or whether contributions will be pooled and spent elsewhere.

My position is straightforward: if you build new homes, you must build the infrastructure to support them. That means roads that can handle the traffic, schools with enough places, GP surgeries with enough capacity, and bus routes that will still be running in ten years' time.

Banbury deserves growth that works for everyone — not just for developers.

If you have concerns about a development in your area, or you have experienced the impact of inadequate infrastructure first-hand, please get in touch. Your experiences help me make the case at County Hall.

Paul-Austin Sargent is the County Councillor for Banbury Grimsbury & Castle. You can contact him via the contact page.