| The new political powers may have kicked the controversial Market Place into the long grass, but plans to renovate most other parts of the town centre continue apace.
A new-look Northbrook Street will be installed next year, so it can be complete before builders start digging up Park Way for a new shopping centre in 2007.
Designers are expected to explore whether more trees, planters and benches could be used to ‘soften’ the town’s main street, with a bus ban also under consideration. Cycling will also be banned when a new byelaw is drafted later this year.
Some groups such as Thames Valley Chamber of Commerce are expected to use the opportunity to lobby for a bus and cycle ban in Northbrook Street, Bartholomew Street and Mansion House Street.
Even before then, the Tory-run council faces an early struggle when plans for a new boat basin at the Wharf go out for consultation next month. The scheme could attract controversy for proposing a large building on Victoria Park, and to introduce a daytime traffic ban in Wharf Street, unlikely to go down well with taxi drivers.
However, the Conservatives have promised only to pursue the scheme if there is popular backing. They came out against the previous Lib Dem council’s Market Place plans, after newbury.net first published details of the plans to turn the 1,000 year old market square into a continental piazza. | 
