Oxford City Council held an online survey about local government reorganisation between 1 July and 12 August.

In total, 1,580 people took part, the vast majority of whom are existing Oxfordshire or West Berkshire residents.1

Survey results

Key findings include:

• 69.4% agreed or strongly agreed with the statement: “Councils are most effective when they are smaller and closer to the people they serve, enabling them to respond and adapt more easily to local needs”; 17.1% disagreed or strongly disagreed
• 80.0% agreed or strongly agreed with the statement: “Urban and rural areas often require different approaches to housing, transport, education and skills, and other key council services”; 12.1% disagreed or strongly disagreed
• 75.1% agreed or strongly agreed with the statement: “Housing, transport, education and skills need different approaches between urban and rural areas”; 16.4% disagreed or strongly disagreed
• 68.0% agreed or strongly agreed with the statement: “I want to see more housing built in the right places to meet local needs (including affordability, proximity to family/friends, and access to jobs)”; 16.6% disagreed or strongly disagreed

The Council also asked residents whether councils should prioritise “good quality services and responding to local need” or “cost savings”. The results showed a strong preference for “good quality services and responding to local need”.

The survey received responses from residents across Oxford (611 responses), Oxfordshire’s other districts (803 responses) and West Berkshire (115 responses).

The results are similar to those from an initial survey carried out in February, which found that 67% think councils should not be too large, so they can better meet the needs of local residents.

Local government reorganisation

The government has asked councils across England for proposals on simplifying the structure of local government in their regions.

There are three proposals being developed for how local government in Oxfordshire should be reorganised, which would see the county’s six councils abolished and replaced with either:

• Three councils: 
  • Greater Oxford Council – covering Oxford and its Green Belt
  • Northern Oxfordshire Council – covering most of the existing Cherwell and West Oxfordshire districts
  • Ridgeway Council – covering most of the existing South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse districts combined with existing West Berkshire unitary (based on the proposals being developed by those councils, but with those villages within the Green Belt closest to the city becoming part of Greater Oxford)
• Two councils: 
  • Oxford and Shires Council – covering all of the existing district areas of Cherwell, Oxford City and West Oxfordshire
  • Ridgeway Council – covering all of the existing district areas of South Oxfordshire and the Vale of White Horse, and the whole of West Berkshire Council’s area
• One council covering Oxfordshire County Council’s current boundaries

Each of the new councils would be responsible for all council services in their area, including those currently provided by district/city and county councils.

Oxford City Council has proposed the three councils model.

The proposers of the two councils and one council models have also undertaken similar public survey exercises.

Next steps

Oxford City Council will use the online survey responses to draw up its final proposals, which will be submitted to the government in November.

The final decision on local government reorganisation across England, including in Oxford and Oxfordshire, will be made by the government in 2026.

New councils are expected to be created in 2028.

Comment

"We’ve now carried out two surveys about our local government reorganisation proposals with residents across Oxford, Oxfordshire and West Berkshire. Residents have been clear throughout: they prefer smaller, more responsive councils.

“Our proposal would create three councils that would be more accountable and responsive to local residents. It would also provide separate councils for rural and urban parts of Oxfordshire, which residents also strongly support.

“I would like to thank everyone who took part in the online survey. We received almost 59,000 words of commentary, which we will now read through in detail to understand and feed into our final proposals.”

Councillor Susan Brown, Leader of Oxford City Council

Notes to editors

1 The council areas that respondents said they live in: