The 11pm pedestrian zone trial ends early. From September, Northbrook Street and five other streets reopen to traffic at 5pm, after 744 of 1,019 backed it.

Newbury town centre will reopen to traffic at 5pm again from September, ending a trial that had kept cars out until 11pm.

The change covers Bartholomew Street, Bridge Street, Mansion House Street, Market Place, Northbrook Street and Wharf Street. Since 19 May 2025 those streets have been closed to motor vehicles from 10am to 11pm. They go back to 10am to 5pm, the hours that applied from 2011 until last year.

Councillor Stuart Gourley, West Berkshire Council’s executive member for environment and highways, approved the revocation on 14 August 2026. Nobody called the decision in by the 5pm deadline on 21 August, so it took effect on 22 August.

What the consultation found

The council consulted on scrapping the longer hours between 11 June and 3 July 2026. It received 1,019 responses.

  • 744 supported the return to 10am to 5pm
  • 248 objected, of which 35 were discounted for giving no reason
  • 27 recorded a neutral position

Objections to a traffic order must state their grounds. That is a requirement of section 8(3) of the Local Authorities’ Traffic Orders (Procedure) (England and Wales) Regulations 1996, and the council says it was set out on the response survey. Counting only the valid ones leaves 213 objections.

The officer report puts the split at 75.6% in favour, 21.7% objecting and 2.7% neutral. Thames Valley Police recorded a neutral position and did not object.

How the trial came and went

Timeline of the Newbury pedestrian zone trial from the 2024 pre-trial consultation to the September 2026 reversion to 10am to 5pm
Graphic by The Newbury Times. Source: West Berkshire Council officer report ID4823, 14 August 2026

The longer hours were an experimental traffic regulation order, a device that lets a council trial a scheme in real conditions for up to 18 months rather than consult on it in the abstract. This one was made on 6 May 2025 and came into operation on 19 May 2025, with an expiry date of 19 November 2026.

It followed a pre-trial consultation held between 12 September and 5 November 2024, and it was a commitment in the council’s own Council Strategy 2023 to 2027.

The first six months of an experimental order are the window in which the public can object. That consultation ran from 8 May to 19 November 2025 and drew 3,150 responses. The Executive considered them on 21 May 2026 and decided to end the trial early, reverting to 10am to 5pm from September 2026.

Ending it early needed a second statutory process, which is the one that closed on 3 July. Had the council not done it, the experimental order would simply have run its course and expired on 19 November 2026.

The council’s own verdict on the trial

The officer report is unusually blunt about what the trial did not show.

On the environment, it says the evening traffic-free zone “should have encouraged more active travel, which would have had a net improvement environmentally”, but that “there was no firm evidence to support this actually took place to any great extent”. Traffic displaced onto other routes cancelled out part of the gain.

On health, it says the scheme “may have encouraged active travel options within the town centre but it created less opportunities on the network where traffic had been displaced to, so an overall net increase has not been achieved”.

The equality assessment records the clearest benefit of reversing it, for “mobility impaired and elderly” residents: reopening at 5pm “will help improve vehicular access to the town centre amenities which are used by the disabled with mobility issues in particular”.

What each side actually said

The council summarised the objections like this: respondents “largely said the 11pm extended pedestrianisation would make Newbury town centre safer, cleaner and more attractive, supporting evening activity, outdoor hospitality and a calmer public space”. Many of them wanted a compromise rather than a straight reversal, such as a later reopening time, different weekday and weekend arrangements, or seasonal hours.

Its summary of the supporting responses runs the other way. Most wanted the 5pm reopening to “improve traffic flow, reduce congestion and pollution on the A339, restore evening access for disabled and less mobile visitors, taxis, deliveries and pick-ups, and make the town centre feel busier and safer after dark”. Many felt the longer restriction had not visibly helped businesses, footfall or outdoor dining, and some said it had cost town centre traders passing trade.

One thing the council’s pages disagree on

Its officer report says Newbury town centre was first pedestrianised in 1998, between 10am and 6pm, with buses and taxis still allowed through. Later orders excluded buses and taxis too, and in 2011 the hours were cut to 10am to 5pm.

Its consultation page tells it differently, saying the town centre “first became pedestrianised between 10am and 6pm every day in 2007”. Both are the council’s own published accounts of the same scheme. The 2011 change to 10am to 5pm is consistent across the two.

What it means for you

  • There is no start date yet. The report says only “from September 2026 onwards”. The consultation page says the change will happen “as soon as our Highway Contractor is able to programme the works”, because the signs on street have to be replaced first. Until they are, the 11pm restriction is still the one in force.
  • Check the signs before you drive in. The zone is enforced against the order that is in place on the day, not against what has been announced.
  • The work is funded from the council’s Network Management minor works programme for 2026/27, out of existing capital budgets.
  • This is not the end of the argument. The council says it will refresh the Newbury Town Centre Masterplan and decide any permanent arrangement through a separate engagement process, working with accessibility groups among others.
  • If you were driving to avoid the zone, the A339 is the road the supporting responses complained about most, and it runs into the Robin Hood roundabout, whose summer improvement works finished on 28 August.

If you park in town rather than drive through it, our guide to parking in Newbury has the council’s own turnover figures for every car park. The wider travel picture is on Newbury roadworks and travel, and the September bus changes are in our report on Newbury’s Sunday buses.

Sources